Sri Lankan troops captured stretches of Tamil Tiger-held terrain in the island’s north-west on Tuesday, killing seven rebels in clashes that took the two-day death toll to 23, the military said. Fighter jets bombed the Tigers’ de facto state for a second day running, hitting a rebel artillery position and an underground munitions store, the air force said.
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/ 22 February 2008
Tamil Tiger rebels said Sri Lankan government fighter jets killed five civilians in an air raid on their northern stronghold on Friday. Fighting between the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has intensified since the government formally pulled out of a six-year-old ceasefire pact in January.
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/ 18 February 2008
The South African government is still deciding whether to recognise Kosovo as an independent country, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Monday. It is expected that the decision would have to be taken soon as it would again be discussed by the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday afternoon.
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/ 14 February 2008
Sri Lankan troops have killed at least 50 Tamil Tiger rebels in fighting in the island’s north, the military said on Thursday. Fighting between the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has intensified since the government scrapped a six-year-old ceasefire pact last month. The government says the rebels had used the truce to re-arm.
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/ 12 February 2008
Heavy fighting in northern Sri Lanka has left at least 11 government soldiers and 42 Tamil Tiger rebels dead, defence officials said on Tuesday. The clashes between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the Weli Oya area on Monday also left 35 security personnel and 21 rebels wounded, a defence official said.
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/ 11 February 2008
Two policemen were killed by a suspected Tamil Tiger roadside bomb in northern Sri Lanka on Monday, while the death toll from weekend fighting rose to 75 rebels and seven soldiers. Fighting between the military and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has intensified since the government scrapped a six-year ceasefire pact.
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/ 6 February 2008
Sri Lankan troops backed by tanks and artillery destroyed 30 Tamil Tiger bunkers in the island’s far north on Wednesday killing 12 rebels, while air force jets bombed a gathering of rebel leaders, the military said. The air raid targeted a gathering of senior Tigers near their de facto capital of Kilinochchi.
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/ 4 February 2008
With a parade of tanks, troops and rocket launchers, Sri Lanka on Monday marked its 60th anniversary of independence from Britain amid tight security after a string of attacks blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels. Thousands of police and troops were on high alert in the capital Colombo as the island’s armed forces put on a show of military might.
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/ 29 January 2008
Tamil Tiger rebels said Sri Lankan troops on Tuesday ambushed a school bus and killed 18 people, including 11 children, as the military reported killing 67 militants in two days of heavy fighting. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said a ”deep penetrating unit” of the military carried out the bomb attack.
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/ 25 January 2008
Sri Lankan warplanes bombed a Tamil Tiger base in the far north on Friday, a day after ground troops killed 30 rebels in clashes across the region. Seven soldiers were killed in the battles on Thursday, the latest in an intensification of the 25-year civil war following the official scrapping of a truce with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
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/ 16 January 2008
A roadside bomb tore through a Sri Lankan bus killing 24 people and wounding dozens on Wednesday, officials said, as a six-year ceasefire formally expires between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. The Ministry of Defence said a large number of schoolchildren were on the bus at the time of the blast in the central district of Moneragala.
A Sri Lankan minister was killed by a roadside bomb planted by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels north of the capital on Tuesday, the second MP killed in a week as a protracted civil war escalates. Nation Building Minister DM Dassanayake died on the operating table, said the deputy director of the government teaching hospital.
Nordic ceasefire monitors began wrapping up their six-year mission to Sri Lanka on Friday after the government scrapped a truce with the Tamil Tigers, and their mandate, amid a chorus of international concern. The government formally notified mediator Norway late on Thursday it was giving a stipulated 14-day notice period to end the truce.
Police and security forces went on alert across Sri Lanka on Thursday, hours after the government announced its withdrawal from a tattered ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels, security officials said. The already tight security in the capital was further strengthened one day after suspected rebels set off a roadside bomb that killed five and wounded 28.
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/ 31 December 2007
Sri Lanka’s air force bombed a Tamil Tiger training base in the north and nine rebels and two soldiers were killed in ground battles, the military said on Monday. The air raids in the district of Mullaitivu and clashes in the northern district of Vavuniya and the north-western district of Mannar were the latest engagements in intensified fighting.
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/ 24 December 2007
Sri Lankan troops killed 41 Tamil Tiger fighters in a series of weekend clashes in the island’s civil war-ravaged north, while three soldiers were also killed, the military said on Monday. Eleven rebels were killed in fighting in the northern districts of Vavuniya and Jaffna on Sunday, while another eight were killed in the north-western district of Mannar.
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/ 2 December 2007
At least 52 combatants were killed and 25 wounded in fresh fighting between security forces and Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka’s embattled north during the weekend, the Defence Ministry said Sunday. With the upsurge in clashes along the de facto frontlines separating the mini-state held by the guerrillas, the military stepped up the already tight security.
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/ 1 November 2007
Sri Lankan troops killed 31 Tamil Tigers fighters in a series of clashes in the north of the island, as warplanes bombed rebel training camps on Thursday, the military said. Two soldiers were also killed and 17 wounded in the clashes with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
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/ 26 October 2007
Sri Lanka has ordered a high-level probe into a public display of the naked bodies of Tamil Tiger rebels who devastated a key air force base earlier this week, officials said on Friday. Two tractors pulled trailers loaded with the stripped corpses and mutilated body parts from the base to Anuradhapura Hospital, 210km north of Colombo.
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/ 24 October 2007
Sri Lankan troops killed 11 Tamil Tiger rebels in a series of clashes in the island’s restive north and one soldier also died, the military said on Wednesday. Troops fought four separate engagements with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters in the northern district of Vavuniya late on Tuesday.
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/ 21 September 2007
Sri Lankan fighter jets bombed a Tamil Tiger military base in the rebel-held far north on Friday, triggering multiple explosions, the air force said, while a suspected rebel roadside bomb killed one civilian in the east. The air strike targeted top leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.