Colombo

Heavy fighting in northern Sri Lanka as casualties mount

Sri Lanka Colombo  – Heavy fighting between government troops and Tamil rebels was reported in northern Sri Lanka amidst mounting casualties from both sides, military officials and pro-rebel sources said Wednesday.

The fighting occurred around the Akkarayankulam area, 365 kilometres north of the capital, where government troops fortified their positions before advancing into a town held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Military officials said that at least 19 rebels and six soldiers were killed in Tuesday's fighting around Akkarayankulam.

Sri Lanka opposition wants experts to investigate suicide attack

Colombo - Sri Lanka opposition wants experts to investigate suicide attack Sri Lanka's opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Tuesday called for an international investigation into Monday's suicide attack, which killed 28 people in the North Central province.

Former prime minister Wickremesinghe told parliament in a statement that he was not satisfied with the local investigations and asked foreign experts to investigate the attack, which killed retired Major General Janaka Perera and 27 others.

Former Tamil rebel fighter named as member of parliament

Colombo - A former Tamil rebel military wing leader, Vinayagamoorthy MuralitharanA former Tamil rebel military wing leader, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, has been named a member of parliament in Sri Lanka by the ruling party, officials said.

Muralitharan, who led the military wing of the rebels in eastern Sri Lanka and was once a bodyguard of rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, broke away from the rebel movement in 2004 and has been supporting the government's military campaign to fight his former organisation.

27 killed in Lanka suicide bomb blast

Sri LankaColombo, Oct. 6 : At least 27 people, including a former senior general, were killed on Monday in a suicide blast in the Sri Lankan town of Anuradhapura.

According to army sources, Major General (retired) Janaka Perera, the controversial commander in the Jaffna peninsula in the 1990s, died alongside his wife.

Over 80 people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the United National Party office near a bus depot, the BBC quoted officials, as saying.

Suicide bomber kills politician, 21 others in Sri Lanka

Colombo  - Suicide bomber kills politician, 21 others in Sri Lanka

Air force bombs rebel police headquarters in northern Sri Lanka

Colombo – Air force bombs rebel police headquarters in northern Sri Lanka Air force jets bombed the Tamil rebel police headquarters in a northern town in Sri Lanka Friday as ground troops were poised in the outskirts of the city, military officials and Tamil rebel sources said.

The rebel police headquarters, located in Kilinochchi town, 380 kilometres north of the capital, was bombed by an undisclosed number of government fighter-bombers on Friday morning.

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