Colombo - The Sri Lankan army, backed by police commandos, mounted a search operation in the south of the country Monday after eight civilians were massacred by suspected Tamil rebels overnight, a military spokesman said. Rebels stormed the village of Mahagodayaya in the Buttala area, 340 kilometres south-east of Colombo, Sunday night and opened fire at the residents, he said.
A one-and-a-half-year-old toddler, an 11-year-old boy and three women were among those killed.
Colombo - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday ordered security forces engaged in military operations in the northern part of the country to restrict offensive operations to enable civilians in rebel held areas to mark the traditional new year. The directive came a day before the traditional new year, which is celebrated by the minority Hindu Tamils as well as the majority Sinhala Buddhist community.
Colombo - Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the suffering of civilians in the northern part of the country was the "sole responsibility of the Tamil rebels who are holding them as a human shield," the president's office said Friday. The president conveyed his position during a telephone conversation with the UN secretary general on Thursday during Rajapaksa's official state visit to Libya.
Colombo - A Turkish ship transporting sulphuric acid sank off Sri Lanka's north-eastern coast Thursday, three days after attempts to repair a leak in the vessel failed, a navy spokesman said.
Geneva - A water technician for the International Committee of the Red Cross was killed in shelling Wednesday morning while trying to fetch water for his family in coastal belt held by the Tamil Tiger rebels.
