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| Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lankan troops on offensive against rebels |
| 2007-06-01 |
| Government forces kept up two offensives against Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s northern and eastern regions Thursday with casualties reported on both sides, officials said. Troops backed by artillery combed the jungles of Thoppigala in the district of Batticaloa, where security forces recovered weapons and explosives from a rebel hideout Thursday, the military said. Officials said several soldiers were wounded in clashes Wednesday in the region. The defence ministry said two members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed by security forces in the northern peninsula of Jaffna on Wednesday evening. In one clash, rebels attacked an army foot patrol in eastern Batticaloa and soldiers retaliated, killing one insurgent, said Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry. Also, insurgents fired mortars into the northeastern village of Welioya, killing one soldier and wounding another as well as two civilians, Rajapakse said. There was no immediate comment from the rebels, fighting to create a separate homeland for Sri Lanka’s minority ethnic Tamils, who have suffered decades of discrimination by the Sinhalese-majority state. A total of 16 rebel and soldier deaths were reported Wednesday. Govt may scrap truce: Sri Lanka’s government may scrap what is left of a “flawed” 2002 ceasefire pact with the Tamil Tigers within weeks, the island’s defence spokesman said on Thursday, a move analysts fear could escalate renewed civil war. Defence spokesman and government minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the Norwegian-brokered truce, which now holds only on paper after breaking down on the ground last year, no longer reflected reality, citing Tamil Tiger ambushes and attacks on security forces. The military and rebels have been locked in near daily skirmishes, land and sea battles for months. An estimated 4,000 people have been killed since last year alone. “The government may abrogate it... due to the fact that the ground reality does not go in parallel with the CFA (Ceasefire Agreement),” Rambukwella told Reuters. “It is flawed.” “It’s time that either you make certain amendments, or abrogate it.” The government has long argued the ceasefire was too soft on the Tigers, and have since captured large areas in the island’s east which belonged to the rebels under the terms of the agreement. It has also vowed to destroy the Tigers militarily. “I think (abrogating) is a high risk strategy,” said Rohan Edrisinha of non-partisan think-tank the Centre for Policy Alternatives. “I think it’s going to lead to more violence and more suffering, because any sort of restraint the sides might feel existed due to the ceasefire agreement will cease to exist.” “This raises concerns about the government’s strategy, about its sensibility to the international community, as well as about the well-being of Tamils.” |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 non-partisan think-tank the Centre for Policy Alternatives ... “This raises concerns about the government’s strategy, about its sensibility to the international community, as well as about the well-being of Tamils.” Doesn't sound too non-partisan to me. This is another tranzi idiot that needs to be taken out into the jungle on a one-way trip. May his body never be found. These kinds of people only fuel the fighting through their stupidity. They are a waste of free oxygen. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-06-01 15:31 |