Sri Lankan leader says army rescued 35,000 civilians

May 29th, 2009 LONDON - More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed, mostly in army shelling, in the final three weeks of the just-ended civil war in Sri Lanka, a British newspaper reported Friday, contesting official figures. The Times said in a five-page report illustrated with aerial photographs that the casualties were three times the figure given out by the Sri Lankan government.

May 22nd, 2009 COLOMBO - A former Tamil Tiger leader who defected to become a Sri Lankan government minister has officially admitted that a significant numbers of civilians were killed during the final offensive against the rebels. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Colonel Karuna, told The Telegraph that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had made a mistake when he claimed no one had died at the hands of the army.

May 17th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan army foiled a last-ditch, pre-dawn attempt by the Tamil Tigers to breach military defences Sunday, killing at least 70 fighters and destroying six vessels, a military spokesman said. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the rebels, initially posing as civilians, had come across a lagoon and made an attempt to breach the defences around 1.30 a.m., but were confronted and killed.

May 17th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan troops have rescued more than 10,000 civilians held hostage by the Tamil Tigers in a small strip of land on the island's north, the defence ministry said Sunday. 'The hostages breached through the LTTE inner cordon leaving terrorists in total disarray,' the ministry said on its website.

May 15th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that all civilians caught in fighting in a shrinking strip of land held by Tamil separatist rebels in northeast Sri Lanka would be rescued in the next 48 hours, the Government Information Department said Friday. Rajapaksa made the declaration Thursday night while speaking to Sri Lankans living in Jordan during an official visit to the country, the department said.

April 26th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan Defence Ministry on Sunday said that the Army has captured strategic Valayarmadam area and encircled remaining six square kilometre strip of land which could be the possible hideout of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. "Sri Lankan soldiers have liberated Valayarmadam area and so far rescued 500 civilians held hostage by the LTTE from there," the Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

April 24th, 2009 COLOMBO - National Security Adviser M.K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon called Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday and reportedly urged him and his government to work towards declaring a truce in the closing chapter of a 25-year war in which nearly 6,500 civilians have lost their lives since February 2009. The meeting between Rajapaksa and the Indian envoys took place even as the international community continues to demand that Sri Lanka stop its offensive and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) surrender to avert rising civilian casualties.

April 24th, 2009 KILLINOCHI - A top Sri Lankan army official has said that LTTE Chief V. Prabhakaran may escape from the country via the sea route, using a submarine.

April 20th, 2009 Sri Lanka gives rebels 24 hours to surrenderCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Some 35,000 civilians fled last corner of Sri Lankan territory held by the Tamil Tigers, the military said Monday, as the government warned the rebels it would launch a final assault in 24 hours. The air force showed reporters footage taken by a surveillance plane in which scores of civilians ran toward the military's defense line, most of them carrying just a few possessions in bags on their heads.

April 20th, 2009 COLOMBO - Troops stormed a coastal village in north-eastern Sri Lanka Monday and rescued about 5,000 civilians who had been prevented by Tamil rebels from going to military-controlled areas, military spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. He said troops broke through an earthen barrier in Puthumathalan village, 390 km north-east of the capital, in the early hours of Monday and rescued the civilians, including a large number of women and children.

April 20th, 2009 Sri Lanka army: 5,000 war zone civilians rescuedCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The military says troops have rescued more than 5,000 civilians from the small sliver of territory in northern Sri Lanka where remaining Tamil rebels are making their last stand. The military has designated the area a "no-fire" zone to protect what the United Nations estimates are 100,000 civilians trapped there.

April 20th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday warned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to surrender within 24 hours. Concerned over the insurgency in the island nation, Rajapaksa said that if Prabhakaran fails to do so by Tuesday afternoon, the Lankan troops will go all out for a final military assault.

March 19th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan Navy has rescued a group of civilians fleeing the Tamil Tigers' last pocket in the northern Mullaittivu district, the military said Wednesday. Some 550 civilians on 31 boats were fleeing Mullaittivu's Puttumatalan area Tuesday evening, heading for the northern Jaffna peninsula when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sea wing tried to stop them.

March 19th, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 38 Tamil Tigers were killed as the military cornered the rebels in 28 sq km land stretch in the north-eastern Mullaitivu district of Sri Lanka, a military spokesman said Wednesday. Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said the troops have seized 18 bodies of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

February 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of being 'insensitive' towards the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils. 'The decades-old ethnic conflict of the country (Sri Lanka) can not be resolved by using brutal force and the central government is behaving insensitively towards the issue,' BJP's prime ministerial candidate L.K.