Over 113 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and 326 wounded in the space of four days last week, as the LTTE stepped their resistance against the Sri Lankan military offensive in Vanni.
As fighting rages on in the north of Sri Lanka, LTTE units in the Eastern province have stepped up attacks against Sri Lankan forces in the region, with several ‘friendly fire’ incidents adding to the death toll.
United Nations staff have begun leaving Vanni this week after Sri Lanka’s government ordered aid workers out of the Tamil Tiger controlled region and told them to remove their equipment with them.
Hours after a devastating Tamil Tiger attack on the Sri Lankan military’s headquarters in Vavuniya, the main opposition Tuesday questioned the government’s claims of progress in the war against the LTTE.
A US trade law expert last week expressed confidence on the European Union (EU) renewing Sri Lanka's GSP Plus trade concessions despite the Rajapakse government’s unabated human rights violations.
Reserves and former LTTE fighters returned to their ranks in large numbers following a call by the Political Wing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, whilst thousands of people enrolled themselves to fight against invading Sri Lankan forces, Tamil and Sri Lankan press reports said.
In a commentary published in the Washington Post newspaper, Bruce Fein urged the U.S. Justice Department to lead a genocide investigation of Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Lt.Gen. Fonseka, and Basil Rajapakse.
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake lashed out western states for questioning Sri Lanka's human rights records despite their own human rights violations.
Sri Lanka's ruling party won two provinical councils in an election marred by violence and intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters and declared the victory as an endorsement of the President's military campaign.
