Sri Lanka could halt fighting

The Sri Lankan government says it is considering a humanitarian pause in the offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels in the north-east of the country.

The pause would allow civilians caught up in the fighting time to escape.

A senior foreign ministry official told the BBC that the details for a halt would be worked out shortly.

Earlier, the Sri Lankan military said more than 50 Tamil Tiger guerrillas were killed in land and sea battles in the north-eastern region.

“The government is considering a humanitarian pause and the modalities will be worked out shortly,” Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohona told the BBC, without elaborating further.

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Sri Lanka navy kills 26 rebels in ocean gunfight

Sri Lanka’s navy killed 26 Tamil Tigers and destroyed four boats during a six-hour sea battle on Monday on the coast just off the sliver of land where the separatists are fighting a final stand, the navy said.

One sailor was killed and three others were injured in the gun duel off of Chalai, north of the military-declared no-fire zone where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are dug in among tens of thousands of civilians.

There, the military expects to soon end a 25-year separatist conflict that saw the Tigers at one point controlling 15,000 square km (5,792 sq miles) of the Indian Ocean nation that is now just 25 square km (10 sq miles).

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Sri Lanka army kills 15 rebels

The Sri Lankan armed forces say they have killed at least 15 Tamil Tiger rebels in intense battles in the north of the country.

The government says it has now restricted the rebels to an area of less than 25 sq km.

But pro-rebel websites say that the guerrillas have been offering stiff resistance to the army’s offensive.

There is no independent confirmation of the events as journalists cannot report from the conflict zone.

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UN calls for Sri Lanka pause

The UN, backed by the US and Britain, has urged the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels to back a “humanitarian pause” in fighting.

A senior UN official said the civilian population trapped in the conflict zone in the north was not being allowed out.

Amnesty International said on Friday that thousands of civilians were increasingly at risk in the conflict.

Troops have pushed the rebels from most of the territory they held during heavy fighting in the past few weeks.

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Sri Lanka approaches final standoff with Tigers

Sri Lanka’s military on Thursday said it has one kilometer left to go before trapping the Tamil Tigers separatists in a no-fire zone, along with thousands of civilians at grave risk in the 25-year war’s final act.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, under pressure to craft a political deal, has called for a meeting with parliamentarians allied with the Tigers but they have refused until the government resolves the humanitarian crisis faced by civilians trapped in the fighting.

“Now the area is 21 sq km (8 sq miles) and only 1 sq km left other than the safe zone,” military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

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Dispute over how to help Lankan tamil civilians in war zone

As fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels intensifies in northeast Sri Lanka, calls to spare as many as 180,000 trapped civilians are growing. But in the debate over how far to push a warring government, caution is guiding the international response.

Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced “deep concern” to Sri Lanka over rising civilian casualties in a government-designated no-fire zone. The Red Cross, which normally prefers quiet persuasion to arm-twisting, has raised the alarm over a humanitarian crisis in the remaining pocket of rebel-held territory, where makeshift hospitals are out of needed drugs and food supplies are dwindling.

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Sri Lanka war rages as 640 make boat escape

Sri Lanka’s navy rescued more than 640 people who fled the island’s war zone in a clutch of small boats as Tamil Tiger rebels opened fire, the military said on Wednesday, but tens of thousands remained trapped.

The military has the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cornered in 28 square km (11 sq miles) of the Indian Ocean island’s northeast, and is battling to deal a final blow to their 25-year separatist rebellion.

At least 18 more rebels were killed in the latest clashes in the shrinking war zone, a military official said on Wednesday.

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More flee as Sri Lanka LTTE mount suicide attack

Tamil Tiger separatists counterattacked with a failed suicide bombing in clashes that killed at least 14 rebels and more than 1,500 refugees fled Sri Lanka’s war zone, the military said on Tuesday.

The suicide bomber, who wore a Sri Lankan military uniform, blew himself up on Monday a few meters from an army frontline in the last town held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Indian Ocean island nation’s northeastern corner.

The military, intent on crushing a 25-year rebellion once and for all, says the Tigers are cornered in a shrinking patch of jungle 30 km square (12 sq mile) along with tens of thousands of civilians the LTTE has kept as human shields.

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Sri Lanka closes in on LTTE

The United Nations said on Monday Tamil Tiger rebels forcibly recruited another of its local workers in Sri Lanka’s war zone along with three dependents of U.N. staff, including a 16-year-old girl.

The United Nations said the forced conscriptions came at the weekend, when nearly 2,000 people fled Sri Lanka’s shrinking war zone as troops fought toward the final showdown in a 25-year war with the separatist Tamil Tigers.

It is the second time the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have forced a U.N. worker into its ranks. The United Nations and witnesses say hundreds of civilians have been forced to fight or build defenses against a military onslaught.

Filed under: Asia, Australia, Canada, Chennai, Colombo, Elephant Pass, Guerrilla Group, Guerrilla war, India, Jafna, London, LTTE, Madras, Mahindra Rajapaksa, Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka, Tamil, Tamil Nadu, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Toronto, UK, Velupillai Prabhakaran, War

LTTE using chemical weapons to halt Lankan offensive

As the Lankan army prepares to inflict a “decisive blow” to the LTTE guerrillas, the capture of a fertilizer warehouse by the military in the Mullaitivu district has fuelled speculation about the use of chemical weapons in the war zones, officials said today.

At least 14 LTTE guerrillas and three civilians were killed as the army intensified its offensives to capture the remaining pockets of the Tamil Tigers in embattled Northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said.

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