The Ceylon News

The Sri Lankan Navy says it has fired at a suspicious aircraft that was apparently leaving one of the last strongholds of Tamil Tiger rebels.

Military officials said they detected an unidentified aircraft leaving Chalai, where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam maintain sea bases and a suspected airstrip, and fired at it, the Indo Asian News Service reported Wednesday.

"(Our) Israeli-built Dvora fast attack (ships) … opened fire at the aircraft using long range guns but it disappeared from the sky," a Sri Lankan military official told the news agency.

Because the craft was flying at a high altitude, observers were speculating the LTTE could be getting aid from foreign donors. After a rapid succession of military victories, government troops have boxed the rebels into a small section of forests near Mullaitivu, IANS reported.

The LTTE is also suspected of being responsible for a sucide bomb attack in Colombo on January 2 [EPA] At least two people have been killed and 11 others injured in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Sri Lanka. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is facing a major government military offensive in the north, is suspected of being responsible for Wednesday's blast, police officials said. The explosion occurred in the town of Batticaloa, about 300km east of Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital. A policemen and another civilian were killed in the blast when a bomb planted on a bicyle went off. Children injured Eleven civilians, including six children, were also injured, according to police officials. The LTTE could not be reached for comment. The attack came a day after govenment forces killed around 16 Tiger fighters in a naval attack near Mullativu, the fighters' last base, off the northeastern coast of the country. Sri Lanka's military has captured much of the Tiger's territory in recent weeks with Kilinochchi, the Tiger's de facto capital, falling earlier this month. Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's president, has said that his troops are now on the verge of victory and that he will not accept anything short of total surrender from the Tigers.

Tamil Tiger rebels have been blamed for the attack

Officials in Sri Lanka say at least two people, including a policeman, have been killed in a bomb attack in the eastern town of Batticaloa.

A police spokesman told the BBC that the bomb was planted on a bicycle parked close to the main police station in the town centre.

Six civilians, including three school children, were among the injured.

The authorities blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the incident. There has been no reaction from the rebels.

The rebels have recently suffered a series of military defeats at the hands of government troops.

Boat attack

Wednesday morning's blast killed a policeman and a civilian, the army said. It also injured one police officer, four school children and six others, according to military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara.

The attack came a day after the Sri Lankan navy said it had destroyed four Tamil Tiger military boats in a sea battle off the country's north-eastern coast.

A pro-rebel website said the Tigers attacked a Sri Lankan convoy and destroyed a navy attack craft.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.

The rebels had established a de facto state squeezed between government-controlled Jaffna in the north and the rest of the country.

But the latest military offensive has forced the rebels to give up much of their territory.

Around 400 Norwegian Tamils gathered in front of United States Embassy in Oslo, Tuesday between 9:30 a.m and 10:30 a.m urging the U.S. Government to help stop the genocidal war on the Tamils in Vanni in Sri Lanka and to exert pressure on Sri Lanka Government to bring about an immediate cease fire. This is the fourth demonstration organized by Norwegian Tamils Federation within the last two weeks, sources in Oslo said. A representative of the American Embassy received the memorandum submitted by the demonstrators.

Probebly, Norwegian Tamil Federation (NTF) & leaders of Tamil Nadu do not understand deference between LTTE and Tamil people who living In Northern Sri Lanka and trying to show their “crocodile tears” in Norway.




The memorandum further urged the U.S. to stop all its military assistance to Sri Lankan government.

‘Bring about a ceasefire in Sri Lanka!’, ‘Urge the Lankan govt. to stop the genocide!’, ‘Help us Obama!’. ‘Work for paradigm shift in Sri Lanka!’, ‘Focus on Tamils’ plights!’, ‘Act promptly!’ and ‘End Tamils’ sufferings!’ were the slogans the participants kept shouting throughout the demonstration.

The demonstration coincides with the swearing in of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America.