| Another bloody week in Sri Lanka |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Wednesday, 27 June 2007 | |
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The Army soldiers captured a rebel bunker line during the fight in a swathe of landlocked eastern jungle called Thoppigala, where Tiger fighters are still entrenched after the fall of their eastern stronghold. Around 150 Tiger fighters remained in the Thoppigala area. Sri Lankan Navy on the other hand destroyed five Tiger vessels after being attacked by two dozen rebel boats off Sri Lanka’s far northern tip. The land battle and clash at sea off Point Pedro in the northern army-held Jaffna peninsula, cut off from the rest of the island by rebel lines, come amid a rash of battles on land and at sea as well as ambushes and air strikes. Fighting is now focused on the north after the military captured the Tigers’ eastern stronghold earlier this year. Around 4,500 people have been killed since last year alone. There has been a series of land and sea battles in recent months as Sri Lanka’s long-running civil war flared into heavy action again. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fighting for an independent state in the island’s north and east and widely listed as a banned terrorist group, accused the navy of starting the sea battle. They said just two of their own fighters died in the confrontation. The government is forging ahead with a plan to resettle tens of thousands of internally displaced from dusty camps in the east to areas southeast of Thoppigala, from where the distant sound of artillery and mortar bomb explosions can be heard. Aid groups and displaced families alike have voiced concern about the safety of those being resettled. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 29 June 2007 ) |
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