150 wounded as four jets drop 16 bombs

“I have experienced this in the Balkans before. When you’re not let in, it’s a sign that there’s something they want to hide” - retired Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson

Heavy fighting that has raged in Jaffna since August 11 subsided this week allowing an aid ship to travel to the embattled peninsula, but sporadic artillery exchanges continued, reports said.

Hundreds of combatants have been killed in two weeks of intense artillery exchanges and heavy ground fighting. The air and sea supply lines to Jaffna, which had been cut by LTTE shelling, hesitantly opened this week.

Four global conferences to be hosted by Sri Lanka later this year have been cancelled on security fears, though the government is confident it can woo at least half a million tourists by December. The events, including a textile conference, were to host at least a thousand people.

But hotels in the Colombo city and its suburbs are full with athletes’ and visitors for the South Asian Games hosted by Sri Lanka, which ends on August 28.

'We see now that the SLMM will be reduced to half its original capacity in a situation where it’s badly needed, and where the work has been more demanding than ever. I would have hoped that the situation would have been different.''

'At a meeting with the President on Monday, representatives of the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donor community – the United States, European Union, Norway and Japan – raised a number of concerns''.

Even if the international community was able to appreciate Tamil aspirations, there is little evidence that it is capable of delivering them.

“Terms such as ‘national and social well being of the country’, ‘national security’ and ‘sovereignty and national defence’ require further clarification in this context to avoid misinterpretation.”

Sri Lanka's biggest Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is requesting international assistance to investigate the killing. Blaming the elite Special Task Force (STF) for the massacre of 10 young Muslim men, the Muslim community in Pottuvil is demanding the unit be transferred out and an independent inquiry be held.

The SLA base complex there has been razed to the ground, but EP is a much sought after prestige target.

Why does HRW have difficulty establishing credibility with the Diaspora?

The President’s twin objectives cannot be fulfilled through a federal solution.

So much for international commitment to peace.

Sri Lanka’s ongoing offensive has been prepared openly over two years.