Colombo  , Nov. 20 : India''s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Alok Prasad, on Thursday, handed over a consignment of humanitarian relief assistance for distribution among civilians in the war-torn Wanni area.

The consignment was handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

It includes hygiene items, clothes and food and weighs 1680 tons. It was delivered at a function held at Kelaniya on the outskirts of Colombo.

Chennai, Nov 18 : Dalit Panther of India (DPI), a regional political party of Tamil Nadu, took out a massive rally in Chennai on Tuesday to protest against the military offensive in northern Sri Lanka.

The protesters were demanding that the Indian government should intervene and ask the Sri Lankan government to order ceasefire and put an end to the war that''s going on in Tamil dominated areas of Sri Lanka.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's Navy and Air Force jointly attacked a cluster of Tamil rebel boats off the island's north-eastern coast on Tuesday morning, killing at least six rebels, military officials said.

Fighting broke out after the Sri Lanka Navy's elite Special Boat Squadron confronted a cluster of "sea tiger" boats off Nayaru, more than 370 kilometres north-east of Colombo, shortly before dawn.

The navy destroyed two of the boats while the air force attacked five of the boats fleeing the area, officials said.

Colombo  – Sri Lanka's Navy and Air Force jointly destroyed a cluster of Tamil rebel boats off the island's north-eastern coast on Tuesday morning, killing at least six rebels, military officials said.

Fighting broke out after the Sri Lanka Navy's elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS) confronted a cluster of sea tiger boats off Nayaru, more than 370 kilometres north-east of Colombo, shortly before dawn.

The navy destroyed two of the boats while the air force, which were called in to support the sailors, destroyed five of the boats fleeing the area.

Chennai, Nov 17 : The Communist Party of India (CPI) convened an ''All-Party Meeting'' in Chennai on Monday to decide their further course of action after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa''s statement in New Delhi on November 13 ruled out any possibility of a ceasefire till the rebels laid down their arms.

Participants at ''all-party meeting'' decided to mobilize people to mount pressure on the Central government to intervene in the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka and to stop the war.

Colombo  – Government troops captured key rebel-held areas in northern Sri Lanka on Monday as security forces intensified ground and airstrikes after taking control of a strategic coastal town in the region, military officials said.

Troops controlled of a strategic junction on a main highway to the northern part of the country Monday and a coastal village in the north- eastern side of the country, the army said.