Sri Lanka

[Petronas]

Sri Lanka (Country threat level - 4): A former mayor of Trincomalee, located approximately 140 mi/230 km northeast of Colombo, died of gunshot wounds on 25 May 2005. Although there has been no immediate reaction to the death, the incident could stoke further ethnic clashes in the city as the shooting -- which occurred approximately one week ago -- took place at a time when ethnic violence has affected the city. The clashes began on 17 May when Muslim and Hindu demonstrators, protesting the erection of a Buddhist statue in the town's market square, launched a grenade attack that resulted in the death of one person. Ethnic clashes and a general strike ensued. Military troops continue to patrol the city amid increased security. Although it is unclear if the general strike in Trincomalee continues, a Tamil Hindu group -- reportedly supported by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- has threatened general strikes in the LTTE-controlled north and east of Sri Lanka on 26 May unless the statue is removed. Although the situation is stoking violence in eastern Sri Lanka, there are no reports of this incident directly affecting Colombo.

AIR SECURITY International - HOT SPOTS 5/25/2005

This is the first report I have seen of Muslim involvement in the ethnic srife in Sri Lanka.

[Petronas]

Jihad militant leader killed in Muttur
September 30, 2005 09:28 GMT

An unidentified gunman shot and killed Abdul Hakeem, the leader of a Muslim armed Group. The incident took place at Palainagar, Mutthur, around 7.50 p.m., Thursday. His body was found riddled with eight bullets, the Police said. Abdul Samadhu Abdul Hakeem, alias Madukara Hakeem, 42, was alone on his way to his Halal stall on his motorbike when he was shot at. His usual team of six bodyguards were not with him when he was gunned down. The incident took place on Muthur Main Road 500 meters east of Sri Lanka Army base in Kaddaiparichan. A section of public and police said that the reason behind the murder was due to business rivalry and infighting. Police has launched an immediate investigation into the killing.

The Jihadi leader was allegedly involved in Tamil - Muslim clashes that took place between years 1985 and 1995 and later in 2002. Abdul Hakeem was a father of 7 children and was in control of the meat businesses in Muthur, sources added.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=15982

[keith]

Sri Lanka says rebels shell school, wound students
By Simon Gardner
2 hours, 56 minutes ago



Tamil Tiger artillery fire hit a school in Sri Lanka's northeast on Thursday, wounding 10 students, the military said, as the rebels warned of a backlash against a government crackdown.

The attack in the eastern district of Trincomalee comes a day after President Mahinda Rajapakse reimposed an anti-terrorism law allowing security forces wide powers to arrest, search and interrogate suspected rebels.

The military said some of the students wounded in the attack were aged 15-16.

"They suddenly started firing. We don't have a gun there and there's no camp nearby," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "Two rounds fell into the school. They must be trying to chase civilians out of the area."

The Tigers earlier said ordinary people would suffer and the government would face a backlash for reinstating the Prevention of Terrorism Act, dormant since a 2002 ceasefire.

"The ceasefire agreement put this draconian act to sleep for a while. Now the dragon is given life," Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) media coordinator Daya Master told Reuters by telephone from their northern stronghold before news of the attack.

"It is nothing but natural that Tamil youths, not necessarily the LTTE alone, would resort to armed defense again," he added. "What the government has actually done is restart a vicious cycle. It is the nation and the people who are going to suffer."

The government, faced with a surge in suicide blasts and clashes, held back from an outright ban on the Tigers, but on Wednesday it unveiled emergency regulations prohibiting supporting or assisting the rebels or giving information detrimental to national security.

Those found guilty faced up to 20 years' jail.

Nordic truce monitors said reinstating the act went against the terms of the truce.

"Just by implementing the Prevention of Terrorism Act is a violation of the ceasefire agreement," said Thorfinnur Omarsson, spokesman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which oversees a truce that now holds only on paper.

More than 3,000 civilians, troops and rebel fighters have been killed so far this year. Air strikes, suicide attacks and major artillery battles are increasingly common.

President Mahinda Rajapakse, whose brother Gotabhaya narrowly escaped injury in a suicide attack in the capital last week, vowed to eradicate terrorism but said the door remained open to peace talks if the Tigers come in earnest.

"Our government decided to reactivate provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act to face this cruel and senseless terrorism," Rajapakse said in a televised national address late on Wednesday. "We have no path left but its total defeat."

"I ask this of all political parties, all media, and all people's organizations. You decide whether you should be with a handful of terrorists or with the common man who is in the majority. You must clearly choose between these two sides. No one can represent both these sides at any one time."

Rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran last week declared the Tigers were resuming their independence struggle. Analysts say this means the island's long-running conflict, which has killed more than 67,000 people since 1983, will likely escalate.




Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.


Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061207/wl_nm/srilanka_rebels_dc_1

[Petronas]

Jihad armed men on the rampage in the East
Thu, 2007-08-23 06:17

Jihad armed group has suddenly gone berserk killing recently two Tamils in the East. On the last 20 August, according to reports, Jihad armed men have killed, Jeyaraj (29 years old), a three-wheeler driver, at Jinna Nagar, a suburb located at the Third Mile Post, three km north of Trincomalee Town. Also on the same day, Jihad gunmen killed Thiyagachandran (54 years old) at Valaichchenai, who is the brother of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarian S. Jeyananthamoorthy.

In a statement, Eelam Revolutionary Organization (EROS) revealed that they have lost one of its members known within EROS as "Gerald" otherwise known as Jeyaraj, who EROS claims was shot and killed on the evening of 20 August at Jinna Nagar in Trincomalee by a man identified as "Nizam" who is affiliated to a group calling themselves the “Jihad – a armed group mainly of the Muslims in the Eastern Province.

The Jihad armed group have been in existence since 1985 and known to have targeted political opponents and civilians in the past, however this is the first time the Jihad group who are based in parts of Trincomalee, Amparai and Batticaloa have begun to Targets Tamils from the East.

Sources in the East told the Asian Tribune that since of late, Jiahd claiming themselves as holy warriors of Islam, has started functioning in the East and are involved in resettling Muslims in Oddamaavadi and in the adjacent villages. Sources told Asian Tribune that Jihad armed group works very closely with some Muslim Government Ministers from the East. Also it was revealed that Jihad and some Muslim Ministers have taken steps to bring in Muslim internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and making arrangements to settle them from Welikantha to Oddamaavadi with the view to carve out that region as a separate Muslim district.

http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/7093

[American_Jihad]

Sri Lanka: Rebels attack air base
October 22, 2007

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Tamil Tiger rebels launched a deadly land and air attack on a Sri Lankan air base early Monday in the northern part of the country, triggering explosions and damaging aircraft, military sources said.

The attack at the air base at Anuradhapura began at 3:10 a.m. with rebels infiltrating the base in the country's north central province.

Residents in the area, who spoke by telephone, said they heard loud explosions and heavy gunfire. Shortly after the ground attack began, a rebel aircraft bombed the base, the sources added.

Police enforced an unofficial curfew for the area which has been sealed off as fighting continues.

Seven Sri Lankan Air Force personnel have been killed, including an officer and two airmen on the base, a military source said.

Four crew members on a Sri Lanka Air Force Bell helicopter were killed when their aircraft crash landed in Mihintale, near Anuradhapura. The immediate cause of the crash was not known.

There has been no official response to the incident so far except an admission by Defence Ministry sources that an attack had taken place. Officials downplayed the incident saying a small group had staged an attack.

Military sources said two Mi-24 helicopter gunships, a U.S. built Beechcraft reconnaissance plane and a Chinese built K-8 fighter jet, were damaged. However, air force officials declined comment.

Monday's strike was the first major attack on an air force base since the rebels demonstrated their air strike capability in March this year. The move, analysts say, is a direct retaliation for the month long raids on rebel positions by air force bombers.

It was only a week ago the rebels attacked an army detachment in southern Sri Lanka killing six soldiers.

Since 1983, the Tiger rebels have tried to create an independent state for the country's ethnic Tamil minority, who have faced discrimination by successive majority Sinhalese-controlled governments. The Associated Press reports more than 70,000 people have been killed during the conflict.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/21/tamil.attack/

[Petronas]

Deadly bomb attacks in Sri Lanka
Wednesday, 28 November 2007, 16:30 GMT

At least 16 people have been killed in a bomb explosion in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, the military says. At least 37 were also injured in the blast, which hit the city's busy Nugegoda district. The bomb went off outside a clothing shop, after a guard reportedly tried to open a suspicious parcel.

The blast came just hours after a suicide bomber killed one person and hurt two in Colombo. Officials blamed the two attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels. They took place a day after Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran described hopes for peace as naive, after increased fighting in the north. The Tigers say that more than 20 civilians, most of them children, were killed in two attacks by the military in the north on Tuesday.

The second blast occurred just outside the four-storey clothing shop during the evening rush hour. Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the explosion occurred after a security guard at the complex spotted a suspicious parcel and tried to handle it. A bus caught fire as a result of the explosion, the defence ministry said.

There are fears that the death toll could rise further. Police are currently searching rubble for more bodies. Mangled and charred motorcycle and taxi parts were scattered nearby. "I was on the top floor of a shoe shop with my wife and child when I heard a big blast and there were glass pieces all over us," local resident A Jayasena told the Associated Press.

Recent rebel attacks on civilian targets of this scale have been rare, but bombings causing mass casualties have been a feature of Sri Lanka's conflict in the past.

In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside the offices of Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, who escaped unharmed, officials said. He is the leader of a rival Tamil movement, the Eelam People's Democratic Party. BBC South Asia correspondent Chris Morris says Mr Devananda is a bitter opponent of the Tigers and has been targeted by them before. Mr Devananda's personal secretary and two security staff were injured by the explosion. The secretary later died in hospital.

Officials said the suicide bomber was a disabled woman who mingled with crowds outside the government building before detonating her device.

The Tamil Tigers said that at least 11 of those killed in the north on Tuesday were schoolchildren whose bus hit a mine laid by the military. The army denied responsibility. Nine others died when the Tigers' radio station was bombed, the rebels said.

In a broadcast speech, Prabhakaran said it was naive to believe peace was possible with any of the parties in the Sinhalese-dominated south. Since his last address the Tigers have been driven from the east of the country and are under pressure in areas of the north that they still control.

A Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in 2002 broke down two years ago, resulting in renewed fighting that has killed more than 5,000 people. At least 70,000 people have died since the war began in 1983.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7116335.stm