Public Vigilance Prevent LTTE Massacre Attempt

One more LTTE attempt to execute carnage targeting innocent civilians gathered at the public fair near the ANURADHAPURA new bus stand was averted today (10) morning due to prompt actions taken by civilians now vigilant on terrorist activities.

Having seen a suspicious unattended plastic container, which later proved to be an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) with a timer, people brought it to the notice of a sailor proceeding on his leave who safely defused the IED containing about 1 kg of explosives.

The ANURADHAPURA Police are conducting further investigations.

Extracted from,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=10622

Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi – the tragic end of a fighter

Latest reports reveals that Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi has been killed in a fatal road accident that took place at Madagama, in the Galgamuwa area this afternoon, February 09.

According to the police sources, the vehicle carrying Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi crashed into a tree around 1.15.p.m. when it slipped off the road due to high speed. The vehicle was travelling from Anuradhapura to Colombo enroute via Thambuththegama, sources said.

Sooriyarachchi was rushed to the Thambuttegama Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on admission.

The driver of the vehicle, Priyantha Samarasinghe and a close friend of Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi, S.K.R. Silva (Chief Executive Officer of Isura FM), too died on the spot.

Two others injured in the accident – Ministerial Security Division personnel identified as Somaratne and Nihal – were admitted to the Thambutegama Hospital. Somaratne, who is in a critical condition, was later transferred to the Anuradhapura General Hospital.

Read more,
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/9555

Sri Lanka Troops Close in on Rebel Town

Fighting raged across Sri Lanka's embattled north killing 44 combatants as government troops closed in on a strategic rebel-held town, the military said Saturday.

The latest gunbattles that erupted along the front lines in the northern districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya killed 41 Tamil Tiger rebels and three soldiers on Friday, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Soldiers were just a short distance from the rebel-held town of Adampan, said Nanayakkara. Capturing Adampan would be a crucial step in the military's campaign to dismantle the rebels' de facto administration in the country's north.

Read more,
http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?

Over 200 LTTE bunkers in north

While the military has destroyed a considerable number of LTTE bunkers in the north to date, there are nearly 200 LTTE bunkers in all in the northern districts at present.
Speaking to The Nation, Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said that the LTTE has bunkers situated every 10 metres or so in the north and that it changes bunker positions from time to time.

“So far no bunker has been captured by the security forces, although the forces have destroyed many of them. At the moment we are in the LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL), which we captured in 2006. Since then the military has not gone any further. The LTTE has the ability to reconstruct the bunkers even when the forces destroy them,” Brigadier Nanayakkara pointed out.

Read more,
http://www.nation.lk/2008/02/10/news9.htm

Armour plates for passenger buses in Sri Lanka

Shaken by a spate of claymore mine attacks against passenger buses that killed scores of people during the last two months, Sri Lankan government is planning to provide armour plates for the public vehicles to minimise the damage if they are hit by roadside bombs.

"We are undertaking a pilot project of fitting armour plates on two buses," Transport Ministry Secretary Nihal Somaweera said.

He said conversion of the passenger bus into a virtual armoured vehicle would reduce the seating capacity by nearly half in the vehicles.

Read more,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest_of_World/

The R2P controversy

One event that made front page news last week was the expulsion of Dr Rama Mani the executive director of ICES from the country following an internal crisis within the organization.The faction opposed to Dr Mani had leaked to the press an e-mail written by her to the International Crisis Group wanting to become the local representative to promote the doctrine of 'responsibility to protect' (R2P for short).

That email basically sealed the fate of Dr Mani because no government can possibly ignore an international NGO which seeks to promote foreign intervention in that country. This talk of a responsibility to protect first came up in this country at last year's Neelan Tiruchelvam memorial lecture which was delivered by Gareth Evans, a former Australian politician turned international NGO operative.

According to the website of the International Crisis Group (ICG), which advocates the responsibility to protect, the right to protect concept arose because of the incidents that occurred in Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo.

The first thing to note is that Sri Lanka is not a Kosovo, Rwanda or a Bosnia where a majority community seeks to eliminate a minority through mass killings; a fact which Gareth Evans, the head of the ICG himself has admitted.

What we have here is a counter-insurgency operation against a terrorist outfit that has been listed as a terrorist group by the USA, Canada, India, Australia, and the EU. This year, the FBI categorized the LTTE as the most dangerous and efficient terrorist organization in the world, ahead of even the Al Qaeda - the main bugbear of the west.

Read more,
http://www.island.lk/2008/02/10/politics3.html

India show brotherly love to Sri Lanka

Living up to their status of the regional big brothers, the Indian cricket board has always stood by their counterparts in Sri Lanka. This time, it promises to be no different.

The mandarins at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are already looking at options to help the Lankan board following the request of Arjuna Ranatunga, currently at the helm of Lankan cricket. "There is a possibility of hosting some off-shore matches between us, and we are trying to find out a slot when our cricketers are free," said Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary.

Speaking to Gulf News, Shah said they would work out a solution soon because of the "brotherly relation" that the boards of two countries enjoy. Incidentally, the two countries, alongwith Pakistan and Bangladesh, will host the third World Cup in the sub-continent in 2011.

Read more,
http://www.gulfnews.com/sport/Cricket/10188349.html