At least 15 civilians were killed and dozens more wounded yesterday when Sri Lankan air force jets "carpet-bombed" Tamil Tiger-held territory in the north of the island, according to a pro-rebel Web site.
Tamilnet.com said that the government raid against the coastal hamlet of Padahuthurai, located near Mannar, left only five out of 25 homes standing.
It said at least 15 civilians, including 4 children, had been killed in the raid, and a further 30 people had been seriously wounded.
No independent verification of the toll was available.
SEA TIGER BASE
A Sri Lankan air force spokesman confirmed air raids had been carried out against areas held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north and east of the island, including near Mannar, but said the target was a Sea Tiger base.
"We carried out air raids on an identified Sea Tiger base north of Mannar," Group Captain Ajantha Silva said.
He also said that Tamil Tiger radio communications that had been intercepted by the government indicated that the rebels had suffered serious casualties.
SECOND RAID
A second air raid on LTTE territory at Vakarai in the east of the island had also been carried out, using Israeli-built Kfir jets, Silva said.
"The air force bombers destroyed a Tiger mortar position," Silva said.
The violence came after both Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and the LTTE wished for peace on the island in their New Year messages.
PEACE WISHES
"We hope the New Year will bring the long awaited genuine and sustainable peace," Rajapakse said in his message to the public.
The LTTE expressed its hope that the world would "stand with the Tamil people in their sincere effort to seek a permanent peace through a just political solution."
The rebels are fighting for independence for the island's minority 2.5 million Tamil community.
An upsurge in violence between the government troops and the Tamil Tiger rebels left more than 3,500 people dead last year, despite a truce in place since February 2002 that was brokered by Norwegian diplomats.
The conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
RSS