Tamil rebel kills soldier in Sri Lanka

October 2nd, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 13 people, 12 of them schoolchildren, were injured when a bomb went off inside a van in north-western Sri Lanka, police said Friday. Police in Kurunegala, 80 km north-west of Colombo, believe the explosion was the result of a dispute between two private parties and not related to terrorist activities.

September 29th, 2009 COLOMBO - Almost four months after eliminating the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), the Government of Sri Lanka has commenced recruiting Tamil police officers from the northern city of Jaffna. The BBC quoted Defence Ministry officials as saying that this is the first time in 30 years that a recruitment of Tamil police personnel is taking place.

August 26th, 2009 LONDON - Video footage released by Britain's Channel 4 has shown a Sri Lankan soldier shooting a suspect Tamil rebel at point blank range in spite of the latter being young, naked, bound and blindfolded. To top it all, the visibly amused soldier simply says after the killing: "It's like he jumped." According to The Times, the footage appears to show what the Tamil community and human rights campaigners have long alleged-that in its final surge against the Tamil Tiger rebels this year, the Sri Lankan Army summarily killed prisoners.

August 7th, 2009 Arrested Tamil Tiger leader in Sri LankaCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's military says it is interrogating the new leader of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels after his capture in a foreign country. Military spokesman Brig.

August 6th, 2009 Sri Lanka says new rebel leader arrestedCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka says that a wanted arms smuggler who recently took over as the new leader of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels has been arrested overseas. Government information director Anusha Pelpita said that Selvarasa Pathmanathan was arrested Thursday in a foreign country which he refused to name.

June 23rd, 2009 COLOMBO - An opposition Tamil minority legislator has been arrested for allegedly helping the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a newspaper said Tuesday. Sathasivam Kanagaratnam, a member of parliament representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), was living in the rebel-controlled area in northern Sri Lanka and escaped two days before the defeat of the rebels in a major military action last month.

May 18th, 2009 COLOMBO - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to visit Sri Lanka Friday to assess the humanitarian situation after an estimated 250,000 civilians fled the Tamil rebel controlled areas in the north of the country, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Monday. Ban is due to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and is expected to tour refugee camps, following the declaration of victory Monday by the Sri Lankan military over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

May 1st, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 23 Tamil Tigers were killed when the Sri Lankan Navy destroyed their boats off the coast of northeastern Mullaitivu district, an official said Friday. Navy spokesman Mahesh Karunaratne said two rebel suicide boats and an attack craft were destroyed at around 1 a.m.

April 29th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday said they had killed at least 25 Tamil Tigers and destroyed six of their boats in a pre-dawn attack. Navy spokesman Capt D.K.P.

April 22nd, 2009 Sri Lanka refuses to pardon rebel leaderCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's president has ruled out a pardon for the Tamil Tiger rebels' leader if he's captured alive by government soldiers now advancing into the last remaining rebel territory. A statement quotes President Mahinda Rajapaksa as saying he was ready to pardon the reclusive guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran if he had surrendered to the armed forces.

April 22nd, 2009 Sri Lanka says 2 rebel officials surrenderCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's military says that two Tamil Tiger rebels officials have surrendered to its advancing troops in the northern war zone. Military spokesman Brig.

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 13th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's temporary truce with the Tamil Tigers to mark the Sinhala and Tamil New Year began Monday even as the rebels killed a soldier in sniper attack, the military said. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired a mortar shell wounding one soldier and killing another in Puthukkudiyiruppa area in Mullaitivu district.

February 8th, 2009 COLOMBO - A female suicide bomber posing as a civilian entered a government-controlled area from the Tamil rebel-held area in northern Sri Lanka Monday morning and detonated herself at a welfare centre, killing several people and injuring at least 60 others, the military said. The explosion went off in the Visuamadu area, 360 km north-east of the capital, where the military is receiving hundreds of civilians before they are sent to transit camps.

January 8th, 2009 COLOMBO - Three air force personnel and four civilians were killed Friday morning in a Claymore mine explosion carried out by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in eastern Sri Lanka, an official said. Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said that they were killed when the bus they were travelling in came under attack at about 9.30 a.m.