Air Force warplanes destroy LTTE training facility and Radar post in Wanni

Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets successfully carried out two bombing missions targeting two identified camps of LTTE terrorists located in Wanni region this morning (March 27). According to the defence sources the targets were a training facility and a Radar command post both located in Kilinochchi district.

Air Force Spokesman Wing Commander Andrew Wijesooriya speaking to defence.lk said that the first mission was launched around 6.25.a.m. targeting a training facility located inside a jungle patch at Kalmadhu, in Iranamadhu. According to the defence intelligence, the terrorists have also used the location as a marshalling point for the conscripts.

The second mission was launched at 6.35.a.m. targeting a Radar Command post located in the Vallaipadhu area, South of Poonaryn, said the Air Force spokesman. Meanwhile, defence intelligence revealed that the terrorists have been using the location to coordinate boat operations across the Gulf of Mannar. The location was a recently established one by the terrorists due to frequent air raids on the strategically important coastal belt in the Northwest of the Island, the sources further said.

According to Wing Commander Wijesooriya the targets have been positively identified through human intelligence and verified by air surveillance. The Kfir and F-7 fighter jets carried out the missions jointly and the targets were accurately hit the added citing the fighter pilots.

Extracted from,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080327_01

Be firm, Israel tells Colombo

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reportedly told his Sri Lankan counterpart Rathnasiri Wickramanayake, presently on a four-day visit to Israel, not to “give in to terrorism because it will only bring destruction to your country,” a statement said.

It quoted Mr. Wickramanayake, Sri Lanka’s first Prime Minister to visit Israel, as saying in Jerusalem that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was maintaining strong relations with terrorist groups such as PKK and some affiliates of the dreaded Al-Qaeda. On the current situation in Sri Lanka, Mr. Wickramanayake said: “The black Tigers are responsible for suicide operations and have perfected suicide bombings and assassinations.

It is generally believed that they learnt it from some Palestinian groups.” Mr. Wickremanayake has held talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. He will also meet Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/27/stories/2008032755091800.htm

Pro-LTTE activists assault Lankan director in Chennai

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supporters attacked a Sri Lankan film director in Chennai and prevented him from taking back prints of his film from a laboratory for allegedly portraying the banned outfit chief, V Prabhakaran, in a poor light.

The incident took place on Tuesday at Gemini Lab in Chennai where Lankan director Thushara Peiris had come to take prints of his film Prabhakaran , which shows the miseries of the people due to the civil war through the eyes of an escaped LTTE cadre.

S P Veerapandian, general secretary of Tamil nationalist party Dravida Iyakka Tamilar Peravai, S Vanniarasu Viduthalai Chiruthaikal and film director Seeman were among those who assaulted Peiris.

Extracted from,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Pro LTTE Ram Doss wants Chennai SL office to be closed down

For re-publishing a collection of items that appeared in the Tamil Nadu media a Tamil Nadu based “human rights organization” called Manitham wants India ’s federal government in New Delhi to close down the Consul General office of Sri Lanka immediately.

The Executive Director of the “Manitham” (Man) Agni Subramaniam in an interview with the popular Tamil weekly magazine Kumudam said, the book issued by the Consul General’s office consisting of media reports from Tamil Nadu , “has created a stir among the supporters of Tamil Eelam in Tamil Nadu.”

Bringing it to the notice of Pattali Makkalai Katchi leader Dr. Ram Doss, who is an extremist leader of the Tamils, Agni, literally meaning Fire, told the magazine that the media reports carried in the book made the impression that Tamil people in Tamil Nadu are opposed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Read more,
http://www.sinhalaya.com/news/english/wmview.php?ArtID=15030

PNM against disarming Pillayan group

The Patriotic National Movement yesterday said disarming the Pillayan faction at this moment would make them targets of the LTTE and prevent the group from entering the democratic process.

Wimal Weerawansa told a press conference at the Library Services and Documentation Board Auditorium that the recent call to disarm them at this moment without helping them enter the democratic mainstream was a move against Tamils' aspirations.

He said certain elements are calling for the disarming of the group which would definitely result in them falling prey to LTTE.

The Government should encourage them to enter mainstream politics by giving the necessary impetus and gradually instilling in them faith in the democratic process. "We cannot disregard the fact that the Pillayan group is under the threat of LTTE. No other party engaged in democratic politics has faced a threat of such magnitude as the Pillayan group," Weerawansa said.

Referring to the forthcoming Provincial Councils Election, he said the Government has failed to conduct a census in the province which consisted of territories forcefully held by LTTE terrorists over a decade, before the Election was announced.

Read more,
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/03/27/pol04.asp

SL create history in the Caribbean

Chaminda Vaas' double-strike just after lunch, sandwiched between the key scalps of half-centurions Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan, and another from Muttiah Muralitharan on the stroke of tea left Sri Lanka needing four wickets to win their first Test in the Caribbean.

Bravo relished his first time opening the innings by scoring a fluent 83 and Sarwan's obdurate 72 gave West Indies hope of salvaging a draw but Sri Lanka came back hard to set up a tense final session. At 229 for 6 the hosts were battling the odds to pull off a great escape at the Providence Stadium.

West Indies began the final day facing a mountain to climb and Bravo and Sarwan took to it step by step. From the go it was evident they were playing for a draw; the first 15 overs yielded just 25 runs. Sarwan didn't score a boundary all session, reluctant to take any risks, and puttered along with tucks to the on side.

Read more,
http://content-sl.cricinfo.com/wivsl/content/

LTTE Ordeal at Omanthai with Escaped Fishermen; Three Dead & Five Rescued

A STRING OF INDISCRIMINATE Tiger terrorist fire attacks on a group of fleeing LTTE abducted and detained fisherfolk Wednesday (26) mid-noon in a jungle location, about 2 km to the east of OMANTHAI Entry/Exit point, claimed the lives of three of them and injured three more.

Troops stationed surrounding this Entry/Exit point managed to rescue five more, effectively responding to the enemy fire while that group of eleven Sinhalese detainees were on the flee, amidst a rain of Tiger bullets that were directed towards those escapees.

The story behind the tragedy records back to 10th February and 2nd March 2007 when LTTE Sea Tigers caught and abducted fourteen fishermen of KALPITIYA, NEGOMBO and TANGALLE areas while they were fishing some 20 nautical miles off KALPITIYA, PUTTALAM.

Tiger terrorists have at first taken those fishermen to ARIPPU by force. Later, terrorists have forced those abductees to undergo rigorous hard work as labourers after confining them to VISHWAMADU area in MULLAITIVU, but their determination to run away from the grip of LTTE terrorists never wavered, according to an escapee.

Read more,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=11898

Sri Lankan Air Force pounds rebel targets

The Air Force in Sri Lanka launched two separate air attacks at Tamil Tiger targets Wednesday morning in the north, said the Air Force.

Air Force spokesman Andrew Wijesooriya told the media that the first air raid was conducted around 10:15 a.m. (0445 GMT) using MI24 helicopters at two identified bases of the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE) at Alankulama and Kaliadanchan in the Mannar district.

Wijesooriya said the attack was undertaken as a ground support mission to the Army soldiers engaged in battles in the area.

The second air raid was carried out by fighter jets around 10:50 a.m. (0520 GMT) at a boat manufacturing facility of the LTTE inthe Vishwamadhukulama area in Kilinochchi, the spokesman said.

Read more,
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/