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| Sri Lanka |
| Sri-Lanka may be headed for full scale war with rebels |
| 2006-06-17 |
| Sri Lankan officials said Tamil rebels launched attacks on police and navy targets in the northwest part of the island. At least 20 people were reportedly killed after a rebel attack on a government navy base in the northwest, news services reported. The reported attack would be the first rebel response to government strikes on insurgent positions. The Friday aerial strikes by the government against Tamil Tiger positions followed a deadly landmine attack that killed 64 people on a crowded bus in the north-central part of the island. On Saturday, at least six navy sailors were killed in the rebel attack, a government spokesman said in a report from The Associated Press. The Reuters news service reported around people died in Saturday's fighting. The AP reported that at least six government sailors and between 25-30 rebels were killed in the fighting. BBC sez: At least 31 people are reported to have been killed after Tamil Tiger rebels launched a major attack against Sri Lankan government forces from the sea. The military says six naval personnel had been killed during the assault. Eight rebel boats had been destroyed, killing at least 25 rebels, it added. The military said navy and police came under attack from a Sea Tiger unit and responded with air and artillery strikes. "We destroyed eight of the 11 boats that came for the attack," navy spokesman DLP Dassanayake is quoted as saying by the Associated Press. On Friday, Sri Lanka's air force dropped bombs near the Tamil Tiger rebel headquarters in Kilinochchi on Friday, Reuters reported. Hours before the airstrikes began, a powerful Claymore mine tore through a crowded bus carrying more than 100 passengers, mostly workers and school children, in the village of Kebettigollawa in the North Central Province. Army officials said 58 people died at the scene, including 15 children. Six others died after being taken to hospitals, officials said. A cease-fire between the rebels and the government -- brokered by Norway in 2002 -- has broken down during the past several months after rebel attacks and government reprisals against Tamil strongholds. Talks scheduled for mid-April in Geneva were canceled after rebel leaders blamed the government for breaking a promise to disband paramilitary groups. The rebels accuse paramilitaries of acting with Sri Lanka security forces to carry out attacks on rebel members and supporters. Last month the European Union listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist group alongside al Qaeda. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #5 The LTTE are they group who perfected the suicide bomber system. Part of that was the "Martyr's video clip". Before he went off to blow up his target (when the reality hadn't quite set in yet) they would get the |
| Posted by: grb 2006-06-17 22:49 |
| #4 For those who have not been following Sri Lanka's travails for the long-term, the LTTE are unrepentant terrorists. They were the ones who started using human bombs, and the ones that the Chetchin scum copied the Black Widows from. LTTE loves to send human bombs into marketplaces, to insure maximum civilian dead and wounded. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-06-17 22:33 |
| #3 Any group that deliberately targets women and children should be totally, ruthlessly destroyed. Not just "killed", but crushed into dust, and the dust washed away. They aren't human. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-06-17 16:02 |
| #2 maybe Thailand will get the clue next? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-17 15:10 |
| #1 Long overdue, unfortunately. May the government swiftly and completely crush the terrorists holed up in Tamil territory. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-17 14:03 |