The Red Cross ferried 150 foreigners to safety from the besieged Jaffna peninsula yesterday as the Sri Lankan military claimed it killed 12 Tamil Tigers when repulsing a rebel attack on an army position.
The ferry arrived at the port of Trincomalee in the country's northeast in the early hours after many aid agencies pulled out foreign staff amid ongoing clashes between rebels and security forces.
The 152 passengers included two locals needing medical care, people visiting families in the disputed northeast and aid workers on tsunami-related projects.
Charity workers said it was unclear when they could return to help tens of thousands who have fled fierce fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the security forces.
More than 40,000 have fled their homes in the Jaffna peninsula alone where 650 people died in 11 days of fierce fighting this month that the military claimed was a rebel push to take control of the area.
"We have to watch the situation because there are big problems. We don't know how long this will go on for," said Kanagaratanam Theiva, tsunami manager for Caritas Sri Lanka, which has pulled out foreign workers from most of the northeast.
"Unfortunately most of the tsunami victims are in the northeast and now they're becoming victims again of this recent violence. We're going through the disaster cycle again and we'll have to go back to relief work," the aid worker said.
The peninsula is blocked by road from the rest of the island by Tiger-held territory and supplies for the population have to be brought in by boat.
The Red Cross said that negotiations were continuing to try to send more boats to take the rest of the estimated 500 foreigners out of the area where food, water and medical supplies were running low.
"We're still in discussions ... but so far we cannot confirm any further operations," Red Cross spokesman Davide Vignati said.
An aid ship arrived at the peninsula last week with 1,500 tonnes of food to ease the crisis, but clashes continued on the frontlines with six soldiers killed on Saturday by a device left behind by rebels.
Sporadic fighting continued elsewhere on the island. Twelve rebels were killed during a battle between the two sides in the northeastern Batticaloa district, said a defense ministry spokesman, who declined to be named.
The military fired back after a group of about 25 rebels fired mortars, injuring seven soldiers, as they tried to break into government-held territory.
"They were trying to encroach into our area. They fired mortars and we countered with heavy weapons," the spokesman said.
"Twelve LTTE were killed, 20 were injured. The bodies have probably been taken away," he said.
Both sides have been accused of exaggerating the casualty figures of the other side.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese