‘High-profile LTTE hideout’ bombed: Sri Lanka

May 24th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Government of Sri Lanka on Sunday said that it would allow UN aid workers access to Tamil refugees housed in camps after weeding out elements suspected of links with the LTTE. Responding to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's demand for unhindered access after visiting the Menik Farm camp housing 200,000 Tamils, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned of "the likely presence of Tamil Tiger infiltrators among the large numbers who had come to the government areas." The government describes the camps as "welfare villages" and says it wants to resettle all displaced civilians as soon as possible.

May 19th, 2009 COLOMBO - The victory 'achieved by defeating the LTTE' is the victory of the country, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said while addressing parliament Tuesday. 'Our aim was to protect the Tamils from the clutch of LTTE.

April 25th, 2009 KOLKATA - Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Saturday said that while the LTTE was a terrorist outfit and responsible for killing his father, the rights of the Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka are 'sacrosanct' and everything should be done to ameliorate their plight. 'For me the Sri Lanka issue is very, very simple.

March 25th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan troops forcing their way into the last strongholds of the Tamil Tigers have captured a hideout of the rebels' intelligence wing chief, Pottu Amman, in the north-eastern Mullaitivu district, the defence ministry said Wednesday. It said that the 58 Division have captured 'the safe house (that) was used by both Pottu Amman and (another LTTE leader) Kapil Amman' in the general area south of Iranapalai at the Mullaitivu battlefront after fierce clashes Tuesday.

March 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers may have killed their high-profile military spokesman on charges of being a 'traitor' when they began suffering heavily early this year, Tamil sources say. Speculation that Irasiah Ilanthirayan alias Marshall has been executed has been doing the rounds of Tamil circles for around a month.

March 13th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Tamil Tigers' financial head has been killed in fighting in Sri Lanka, officials said Thursday, as soldiers seized more territory from the cornered guerrillas. The defence ministry also said that soldiers stormed a hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu district which had been reportedly turned into a major rebel hideout.

February 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian Air Force (IAF) is already on 'very high alert' along the country's southern tip and no additional steps are needed following a Tamil Tiger air raid on Colombo, militay sources said Saturday. 'We are already in a state of very high alert due to the ongoing Dakshin Prahar exercise and no additional measures are required in the wake of the air raid on Colombo,' a military source told IANS.

February 8th, 2009 COLOMBO - The United Nations and the US condemned Monday's suicide attack in Sri Lanka by a suspected Tamil Tiger that left 23 people dead and over 60 wounded. The bomber exploded herself amid Tamil civilians fleeing the war zone in the country's north where the military is battling a cornered Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

February 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian government Thursday voiced 'deep concern' over the situation in Sri Lanka and called upon both Colombo and the Tamil Tigers to end their hostilities. Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting earlier in the day, Home Minister P.

February 4th, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 12 Sea Tigers men, including the wing's deputy leader, were killed in fierce fighting with the Sri Lankan troops which are close to capturing the rebels' last naval base in Mullaitivu district, the defence ministry said Thursday. Claiming that the fall of the Chalai Sea Tiger base was 'imminent', the defence ministry said that three other senior leaders of the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were also among those killed in fierce fighting throughout Wednesday.

February 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Voicing 'deep concern' over the 'difficult situation' in Sri Lanka, India Thursday asked Colombo not to put the lives of thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone in danger. While implicitly approving the military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee pointed out that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had promised that 'safe zones' in the island's north would not be shelled or bombed.

January 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Diaspora groups of Sri Lankan Tamils have condemned both Colombo and the Tamil Tigers for the civilian deaths caused by war in the island nation's north. In a joint statement, the organisations accused the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of having 'callous disregard for the safety and welfare of civilians trapped in the crossfire in Mullaitivu'.

January 21st, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian police have sounded a high alert following a media report that said Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran may have fled to Southeast Asia. The police were working closely with India, Sri Lanka and the Interpol.

January 6th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan government Wednesday banned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), terming it a terrorist organisation, a minister said here.

December 26th, 2008 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan jets Saturday carried bombed two locations suspected to be frequented by Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, the defence ministry said. The ministry quoted air force spokesperson Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara as saying that both targets were located in the northeastern Mullaitivu district, considered the nerve centre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).