Tamil Tigers

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Leaving the Tamil Tigers
 Leaving the 
 Tamil Tigers 
Perspective
May 8, 2009 11:49 AM CDT

Leaving the Tamil Tigers

(Newser) - Caught in an ambush in 1987, Niromi de Soyza almost bit her cyanide capsule. “As a Tamil Tiger guerrilla, there was no honor in being caught alive,” she writes in the Telegraph. Ultimately she escaped, but not before one of her best friends was shot and killed. Her...

Sri Lankan Refugees Describe Deadly Escape

10 of 21 make it to safety in India; refugees tell their story

(Newser) - As fighting raged between the Sri Lankan army and the rebel Tamil Tigers last month, 21 people managed to escape on a boat. But by the time they arrived in India, nine days later, only 10 remained. “One by one. Dead babies, children. No food. No drink,” one...

Doctor: 64 Dead in Shelling of Sri Lankan Hospital

(Newser) - Artillery shells hit a makeshift hospital in Sri Lanka's northern war zone today, killing at least 64 civilians, a government doctor reports, amid growing international pressure to safeguard thousands of civilians trapped in the area. A rebel-linked website accused government forces of shelling the hospital, while the military said soldiers...

EU Urges Sri Lanka Ceasefire; 50K Trapped

British, French foreign ministers arrive on island as war rages

(Newser) - The foreign ministers of France and Britain arrived in Sri Lanka today and urged the government to accept a ceasefire in its war with ethnic Tamil rebels. Bernard Kouchner and David Miliband insisted that the fighting must stop now in order to safeguard the estimated 50,000 civilians trapped in...

Sri Lanka Restarts Airstrikes, Bars Diplomat

Swedish foreign minister refused entry days before trip

(Newser) - The Sri Lankan army bombarded the tiny coastal strip where ethnic Tamil rebels are mounting their last stand, the Guardian reports—a day after the government said it would end airstrikes. Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in the region. The eruption comes as Sweden’s foreign minister, scheduled...

Sri Lanka Army Ends Combat, Begins Rescue

Civilian deaths keep mounting in civil war's endgame

(Newser) - The Sri Lankan army has announced an end to shelling in the tiny coastal strip where the Tamil Tigers mounted their last stand in the 26-year civil war, CNN reports. The army is set to move in and rescue trapped civilians whose situation the UN has called catastrophic; many were...

Sri Lanka Rejects Rebels' Ceasefire Call

Gov't calls Tigers' move 'a joke,' demands a full surrender

(Newser) - Surrounded by government forces and citing an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers declared a unilateral ceasefire today that was immediately rejected, the Guardian reports. Sri Lanka’s defense chief called the ceasefire “a joke. They were not fighting with us, they were running from...

6,500 Civilians Dead as Sri Lanka War Nears End

Army, rebels both accused of exacerbating death toll

(Newser) - Nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians have been killed in the last 3 months of fighting in Sri Lanka, the UN estimates. The level of civilian deaths has increased dramatically as the bloody 26-year civil war draws to a close, with the army pressing Tamil separatists into a tiny coastal...

UN Orders Sri Lanka Rebels to Surrender

End of 26-year war in sight as army boxes in Tamil Tigers

(Newser) - The UN Security Council has called on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers to surrender after 26 years of civil war as the country's army claims victory is within reach. More than 150,000 Sri Lankans have been displaced as the army has advanced to the island's north, trapping the Tigers in...

Up to 110K Civilians Flee Sri Lankan War Zone

(Newser) - Thousands more civilians flooded out of the final battlefield in Sri Lanka’s civil war today, bringing the total number of displaced to more than 80,000, Reuters reports. The UN said that number could be as high as 110,000, though only 7,500 had reached refugee camps clear...

Sri Lanka Kills 1K Civilians in Raid: Rebels

Government denies claim, says noncombatants escaped from rebel areas

(Newser) - Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels said today that 1,000 civilians died in a government raid on their territory, an operation the military says freed thousands of noncombatants from the war zone. Government forces deny the accusation, and say they rescued thousands of civilians yesterday after they broke through a barrier...

Thousands Flee Sri Lanka Fighting

Rebels given 24 hours to surrender as civilians pour out of last Tiger stronghold

(Newser) - At least 25,000 civilians have fled the Tamil Tigers' last stronghold in Sri Lanka as the government prepares its final push to end the civil war, reports the BBC. Tens of thousands of civilians remain in the densely packed coastal strip, which was originally set up as a safe...

Sri Lankan Mosque Blast Kills 10

Tamil Tiger suicide bomber targeted government ministers

(Newser) - An explosion at a mosque in southern Sri Lanka has killed at least 10 people, the BBC reports. The suicide attack by the Tamil Tigers was aimed at a group of government ministers visiting the Matara mosque. One cabinet minister is believed to be among more than 20 people seriously...

Rapper MIA Gives Voice to Tamil Tigers

Rebel leader's daughter walks fine line of glorifying terrorism

(Newser) - America knows MIA as the rapper who dropped rhymes—and nearly a baby—at the Grammy Awards, but she’s a far more divisive figure in Sri Lanka, the New York Times reports. MIA's father is a leader in the Tamil Tigers and critics say the rapper, whose videos are...

Sri Lankan Army Seizes Last Big Rebel Base

Loss is latest setback for beleaguered Tamil Tiger separatists

(Newser) - The Sri Lankan army says it has captured the last urban Tamil Tiger base in a surprise morning assault, CNN reports. Soldiers and rebels battled fiercely for the town of Mullaittivu, the latest effort in the army’s recent campaign to capture Tiger areas. The army says the rebels are...

Sri Lanka Bombs Rebels After Seizing Their HQ

Tamil Tigers now occupy just 620 sq. miles

(Newser) - Sri Lankan air force jets and helicopters bombed a series of rebel targets in the north and northeast, the military said, as soldiers pressed deeper into Tamil Tiger territory a day after capturing the insurgents' de facto capital. The fall of Kilinochchi has squeezed ethnic minority Tamils into 620 square...

Sri Lanka Celebrates 'Decisive' Win Over Rebels

(Newser) - Sri Lanka’s president called today’s seizure of a Tamil Tiger stronghold “an unparalleled victory” that could bring an end to the nation's 25-year civil war, the Times of London reports. Most observers, however, say the government will need to make some sort of political agreement with the...

Sri Lankan Troops Capture Rebel Capital

Tamil Tigers flee into jungle as government makes final push to crush separatists

(Newser) - Sri Lankan government troops have captured the Tamil Tiger capital of Kilinochchi after months of heavy fighting, Reuters reports. Soldiers are mopping up the last of the rebel resistance and many have fled into the jungle, say officials. The capture of Kilonochchi is a devastating blow to the Tigers, leaving...

Bus Bomb Kills 24 in Sri Lanka

Rebel Tamil Tigers again responsible for rush-hour attack, government claims

(Newser) - A bomb blast on a public bus killed 24 and injured 52 people today in Sri Lanka, the BBC reports. The device exploded in a vehicle full of rush-hour commuters; government officials blamed the separatist Tamil Tigers for the attack.

Sri Lankan Blast KIlls Minister
 Sri Lankan Blast KIlls Minister
Apr 6, 2008 9:13 AM CDT

Sri Lankan Blast KIlls Minister

Tamil Tigers believed behind attack at marathon

(Newser) - The Sri Lankan highway minister and at least 11 others gathered for a marathon were killed today by a suicide bomber believed to be a member of the Tamil Tigers rebel group. More than 100 people were also wounded in the blast near the capital, reports Reuters. The minister is...

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