Chennai, Mar 9 : Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who heads the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), accused United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Tamil Nadu Government for the genocidal attack on Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Jayalalithaa expressed these views in Chennai on Monday while addressing the media at a spot where she and her party volunteers undertook hunger strike as a mark of protest against Sri Lankan atrocities on Tamilians.

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, Mar, 9 : The umpires' minivan which was traveling behind the bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team, was virtually abandoned by the security personnel when bullets rained from all directions during the terror attack.

Umpires performance manager Peter Manuel, who was inside the van with Umpires Simon Toffel, Steve Davis, Nadhim Gouri, Ahsan Raza, ICC match referee Chris Broad, and liaison officer Abdul Sami, has said that they were left alone by their security officers during the attack.

Colombo  - Tamil rebels suffered heavy setbacks trying to breach army lines in north-eastern Sri Lanka, losing over 100 of their men in two days of fighting, army officials claimed on Sunday.

Rebels attacked Sri Lankan army outposts around Mullaitituv in a bid to stop the government forces reaching the last rebel-dominated areas, but were forced to withdraw, the army said.

The military released pictures of dead rebel fighters, some wearing suicide bomber jackets.

Washington, Mar 8 : The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team last week points towards the Punjabi terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which most independent analysts think carried out the attacks in Mumbai last year.

The gunmen worked in pairs and carried walkie-talkies and backpacks stuffed with water, dried fruit and other high-energy food, perhaps anticipating a protracted standoff after taking the cricket team hostage.

According to The Scotsman, the Pakistani security services and most of the Pakistani elite are in state of denial.

Colombo, Mar. 8 : A businessman who founded a charity that raised two million dollars for Sri Lanka after the December 26, 2004 Asian tsunami, has pleaded for Australia''s cricket community to "do everything possible to help Pakistan".

Sri Lanka-born Harry Solomons''s plea echoed distraught Pakistan captain Younus Khan''s warning last week that without the availability of international exposure, Pakistani cricket could die.

"If something is not done quickly, maybe everyone [will go] to the IPL, ICL or county cricket," Younus told Cricinfo. com.