The Ceylon News

Sri Lanka's government says it will impose new security measures across the country after a deadly suicide bombing in the country's south.

Government officials gave no details of their new security plans, but the media ministry Wednesday warned people to stay alert even in areas far from the northern war zone, where the military is battling the Tamil Tiger rebels blamed for the blast.

The suicide bombing at a Muslim religious ceremony on the island's southern tip Tuesday killed at least 14 people and wounded many more, including a Cabinet minister.

Sri Lankan doctors carry Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Mahinda Wijesekara to surgery after air lifting him to hospital in Colombo, 10 Mar 2009

Doctors treating Post and Telecommunications Minister Mahinda Wijesekara say his condition has improved, and they have taken him off life support, but he remains in intensive care at a Colombo hospital.

Meanwhile, the military says nearly 400 civilians escaped from the conflict zone Tuesday as the fighting continued.

Aid agencies say tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped alongside the rebels on a narrow strip of land along Sri Lanka's northern coast.

The United Nations has accused the rebels of holding them as human shields, something the rebels deny.

The government has rejected international calls for a break in the fighting to allow civilians to flee.

The government says it is in the "final phase" of an operation to crush the Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting for an independent homeland since 1983.

(Repeats to additional subscribers with no changes)

* Exporters sell dollars on rupee appreciation talk

* Shares edge up in thin trade on select bluechips

* Investors stay away over profit, war, and economy woes

By Shihar Aneez

Sri Lanka's rupee edged up on
Wednesday as exporters sold some dollars expecting the rupee to
appreciate on a possible $1.9 billion IMF loan now being
negotiated, while shares rose on select bluechips.

The rupee rose to 114.20/25 per dollar, from
Monday's 114.25/35. On Feb. 27 it hit an all-time low of
115.75/95 before the central bank intervened to keep it steady.

Both currency and share markets were closed on Tuesday for
a Buddhist religious holiday.

Four analysts from four banks Reuters spoke to said one
state bank, through which the central bank directs the market,
offered dollars at 114.25.

"Some exporters are seen converting their dollars," said
one currency dealer.

The central bank last week said it was negotiating a $1.9
billion loan with the IMF to help weather the global financial
crisis and support post-war construction. [ID:nCOL298469]
The rupee has fallen 5.45 percent since Oct. 30, after the
central bank allowed depreciation to preserve dollars and
enhance exporter competitiveness. It is down 1.07 percent so
far in 2009.

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For Q+A on where the rupee is heading see [ID:nCOL27614]

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The rupee has been falling steadily since the central bank
reduced heavy intervention designed to prevent sharp
depreciation that cost it a sizeable chunk of foreign exchange
reserves.

The benchmark 91-day treasury bill rate fell 27 basis
points to 15.46 percent at weekly auction. [ID:nCOL384320]

The Colombo All-Share index .CSE edged up 0.44 percent or
7.21 points to 1637.91, its third rise after falling to near a
two-month low on earnings and economic worries.

"Investors are looking for direction," said Shivantha
Meepage, a research analyst at Acuity Stockbrokers said. "Still
earnings worries keep investors away from the market. There
will be a boom if the IMF money comes in."

Other analysts said the war and high interest rates are
also weighing on the bourse.

Top mobile phone operator Dialog Telekom DIAL.CM closed
2.17 percent firmer at 4.70 rupees, calculated on a weighted
average, while top conglomerate John Keells Holdings JKH.CM
rose 0.90 percent to 55.75 rupees.

Shares in Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka DIST.CM rose
2.59 percent to 59.50 rupees, while cement manufacturer, Lanka
Cement LCEM.CM closed 5 percent stronger at 10.50 rupees.

The bourse is up 9 percent so far this year after falling
40.8 percent in 2008, largely on corporate earnings crunched by
high borrowing costs that cut growth.

Market turnover was 37.7 million rupees ($0.33 million), a
fraction of the 2008 daily average of 464 million rupees.

The interbank lending rate or call money rate CLIBOR
edged up to 12.305 percent from Monday's 12.259 percent.

For secondary market rates, please see <0#lkbmk=>.
($1=114.225 Sri Lankan rupees)
(Editing by Bryson Hull)

A 52-member Indian medical team including physicians and surgeons left here Wednesday for Sri Lanka's east to treat civilians wounded in fighting between the military and the Tamil Tigers.

The team will establish a medical unit including a full-fledged hospital at Pulmoddai in Trincomalee district to supplement the Sri Lankan health ministry's efforts in that area for the displaced people.

Indian diplomatic officials said the Indian medical team can function on its own in terms of logistics and medical infrastructure.

Twenty truckloads of medical items and equipment have already been sent to Pulmoddai.

Sri Lankan Minister for Healthcare and Nutrition Nimal Sripala de Silva met the members of the Indian medical team Wednesday morning at Colombo's Hotel Taj Samudra, minutes before their departure for Pulmoddai.

At the brief ceremony, Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad handed over to the minister a token parcel of Indian medical assistance valued at 70 million Sri Lankan rupees.

Describing it "an outstanding example of very close cooperation between the governments of India and Sri Lanka", Prasad said the Indian team would be in Sri Lanka for "an initial period of one month".

Their stay can be extended if the situation required, he added.

Thanking the Indian government and people, Silva said that it symbolized the close friendship between the two countries.

"Unlike most countries who are issuing statements asking us to do this, do that without knowing the ground realities of terrorism, the Indian assistance has come at a time of need. It has demonstrated India's constructive support to solve the (separatist) problem," the minister said.

"It is a token of goodwill and friendship between India and Sri Lanka. We are positive India has taken a very positive step," he said.

Over 35,000 people have fled areas held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and entered government territory since the beginning of 2009. Most of them are being housed at welfare centres and transit camps in the northern town of Vavuniya.

Stressing that helping internally displaced people "is the responsibility of the government of Sri Lanka and not anybody else", the minister, however, said that India had been "so kind enough to assist" the island nation at a time of need.

"We wholeheartedly welcome the support by India in order to ensure that the necessary health and medical facilities are extended ... at a very high quality and care," he said.

In his speech, the high commissioner underlined India's commitment to assist Sri Lanka in meeting the urgent medical needs of the people forced to flee their homes because of the war.

He thanked the Sri Lankan authorities for "readily facilitating the arrival, the movement and the establishment of the hospital at Pulmoddai".

"It speaks a lot about the cooperation between the two countries that the medical team has arrived here with all their equipment within a few days of the decision taken between the two governments," Prasad said.

"This is our disaster response mechanism, which is always available. The doctors are picked up from wherever they are available to be able to move at a short notice. Some of them are from the army medical unit," he said, answering to question on the composition of the medical team.

Aiming to capture the last few LTTE pockets, Sri Lankan troops pushed deeper into the island's north amid stiff resistance from the cornered rebels and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition even as over 80 Tamil civilians crossed over to government areas from the Tiger-held region.

The security forces inflicted heavy damage on the LTTE during clashes in Pudidukirippu area in Mullaittivu last evening, the Defence Ministry said today, without elaborating.

The Army also suffered some damage in the confrontations, it said.

In a separate incident, a soldier was injured in an explosion of an anti-personnel mine in Visuadmadu area in Mullaittivu yesterday, the ministry said.

An LTTE artillery and mortar fire in Pudukudirippu caused minor damage to the army.

In Nachchimunai area of Mulllaittivu, troops recovered fire arms, besides claymore mines and mortar bombs during search operations.

In Puliyanpokkarai, security forces suffered minor damage during confrontations with the LTTE, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said.

Meanwhile, 81 more civilians reported to the government- controlled areas throughout the day yesterday.

Of the 81 civilians, 66 people, including women and children, sought protection in Puthukudirippu area yesterday, the MCNS said. Another 15 civilians reported to the security forces at Mullaittivu the same day.

The government yesterday announced that at least 250 LTTE cadres had been killed in the fighting this month so far.

The troops and commandos had comprehensively neutralised the LTTE offensive waves, seizing a large haul of weapons during the last one week, security sources said.

The security forces also thwarted successive attempts by the LTTE to infiltrate the military forward defence lines South of Chalai on Sunday.

COLOMBO (AFP) — A Sri Lankan government minister was on life support Wednesday, the day after being critically injured in a deadly suicide bombing blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said.

Postal Services Minister Mahinda Wijesekera, 66, suffered head injuries in the attack at the southern town of Akuressa and was airlifted to the capital where he underwent four hours of surgery, hospital spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa said.

"The minister is on life support systems after surgery and it is a bit too early for us to assess his progress because he is heavily sedated," she said.

The bombing killed 15 people and wounded 60 others.

The government has blamed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who are facing a major military offensive in the northeast of the island.

At a time when almost all political parties in Tamilnadu are stressing for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka, the war between government forces and the LTTE took an aggressive turn today, with both sides making ‘devastating attacks’.

At least 15 people were killed and 20 others, including a Minister, injured in a suicide attack by a suspected LTTE bomber near a mosque in the southern Sri Lankan city of Matara.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intensified indiscriminate shelling on the ‘safe zone’ throughout Monday, and continued this morning, killing 74 civilians, including 25 children, and injuring more than 100, according to a pro-Tamil website.

According to a PTI report, the suicide bomber struck during a ceremony to mark Eid-e-Milad-ud-Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad, near the mosque in Akuresha area in Matara. Defence sources said LTTE cadres targeted the people attending the celebrations near the mosque. Milad-un-Nabi is celebrated as a national festival in Sri Lanka.

Minister Mahinda Wijesekara, who suffered injuries in the attack, and other injured were rushed to the local hospital. In the the attack by the SLA near Vanni, 25 of the victims killed were children. ‘The inhuman shelling deliberately targeted all the areas of the ‘safe zone’ where civilians are already victims of flood and a mini-cyclone that hit them Monday.’

All lethal ammunitions such as artillery-fired cluster shells, fire-shells and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) shells were used in the SLA attack. The casualty figure is expected to rise, according to local NGO workers helping the displaced, the website said.

Another report on the same site said: ‘A lashing rain that started Sunday night became a mini-cyclone Monday severely causing misery to the already suffering civilians in the ‘safe zone’ in Mullaiththeevu. Amidst this catastrophe they were inhumanely attacked by the Sri Lanka Army shelling in which 71 civilians were killed within the last 36 hours.’

It added: ‘The mini-cyclone blew away the temporary tarpaulin tents and the low land adjacent to sea coast where the people were herded became heavily flooded causing at least 20,000 families stranded.’