Colombo - Over 900 civilians left the Tamil rebel-controlled areas in northern Sri Lanka over the weekend as fierce fighting continued between government troops and the rebels, military officials said Sunday.
A group of civilians had left on their own while others were helped by the International Committee of the Red Cross to leave the Mullaitivu area, 395 kilometres north-east of the capital by sea.
Military officials said 423 civilians had traveled Saturday by the ship Green Ocean to reach the north-eastern port city of Trincomalee, an area 60 kilometres south of where the fighting was continuing.
Colombo, Mar. 15 : The last major medical facility in Tamil-held territory has almost stopped functioning due to medicine shortage, the BBC quoted a Sri Lankan health official, as saying at the weekend.
Dr. T. Varatharaja warned that the closure of the hospital would put the lives of thousands of sick and injured people in the conflict zone at extreme risk.
Colombo, Mar 10 : At least ten people were killed and 20 others, including Cabinet Minister Mahinda Wijesekara, injured in a suicide attack near a mosque here on Tuesday.
According to defence ministry sources, the suicide attack by a suspected LTTE bomber occurred during a ceremony to mark Eid-e-Milad-ud-Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad, near the mosque in the Akuresha area in Matara.
All injured, including Wijesekara, were rushed to a local hospital.
Colombo - A former Tamil rebel military leader in eastern Sri Lanka has joined the ruling party and been named a government minister, local newspapers said Tuesday.
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharna, also known as "Colonel Karuna," was sworn as minister of National Integration and Reconciliation at a ceremony presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa Monday night, the state-run Daily News said.
Muralitharan and about 2,000 of his followers joined Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which leads the coalition government, the newspaper said.
Colombo - Sri Lankan government troops Monday claimed to have killed at least 200 Tamil rebels and recovered 150 bodies during fierce fighting over the past five days.
The Defence Ministry in a statement said heavy fighting broke out last Thursday in parts of Mullaitivu district, 390 kilometres north- east of the capital Colombo, which represent the last remaining areas held by the rebels.
The army has thrown in special forces and commando troops and has seized a large haul of weapons in its operations, the Defence Ministry added.
Colombo - Tamil rebels fired on a government ship delivering food and
supplies for displaced civilians in north-eastern Sri Lanka on Monday,
a military spokesman said.
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the ship was unloading flour, lentils,
sugar and fuel when it came under artillery attack at a port in
Puthumathalan, in the Mullaitivu district, 410 kilometres north-east of
Colombo.
He said artillery shells fell as close as 50 metres from the ship,
forcing the captain to order a halt to the delivery and return to a
Colombo - Over 900 civilians left the Tamil rebel-controlled areas in northern Sri Lanka over the weekend as fierce fighting continued between government troops and the rebels, military officials said Sunday.
Colombo, Mar. 15 : The last major medical facility in Tamil-held territory has almost stopped functioning due to medicine shortage, the BBC quoted a Sri Lankan health official, as saying at the weekend.
Colombo, Mar 10 : At least ten people were killed and 20 others, including Cabinet Minister Mahinda Wijesekara, injured in a suicide attack near a mosque here on Tuesday.
Colombo - Sri Lankan government troops Monday claimed to have killed at least 200 Tamil rebels and recovered 150 bodies during fierce fighting over the past five days.
Colombo - Tamil rebels fired on a government ship delivering food and
