Soldiers and Tamil separatists fought gunbattles across embattled northern Sri Lanka, leaving 19 insurgents and two soldiers dead, the military said yesterday.
Troops killed 10 Tamil Tiger rebels in confrontations in three villages in the Vavuniya District on Sunday, just south of rebel-held territory, a defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak the media. One soldier was also killed.
Separate battles in nearby Mannar District left eight insurgents and one soldier dead, and another rebel was killed on the northern Jaffna Peninsula, the official said.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not immediately be reached for comment. It is impossible to independently verify the military's claim because access to the area is restricted. Both sides often exaggerate their enemies' casualties while undercounting their own.
Including the latest clashes, a total of 41 rebels and three soldiers were killed along the northern front lines over the weekend, military figures showed.
Fighting has escalated in recent weeks along the front lines surrounding the Tamil Tiger rebels' de facto state in the north. The military push is aimed at crushing the separatist movement and ending nearly a quarter-century of war.
The rebels began fighting in 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils after decades of discrimination under Sri Lankna governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict. A 2002 ceasefire between the Tamil Tigers and the government broke down two years ago.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of