Sri Lanka’s air force bombed and destroyed a Tamil separatist training camp in the island’s north, while battles along the northern front lines left 21 rebels and five soldiers dead, the military said yesterday.
Fighter jets destroyed the Tamil Tiger rebel camp on the Jaffna peninsula in the morning atttack, air force spokesman Wing Commander Andy Wijesuriya said.
Wijesuriya said he did not have details of how many people were in the camp at the time of the airstrike and could not say if there were any casualties.
On Thursday, government troops clashed with Tamil guerrillas in Vavuniya district, just south of the rebels’ de facto state in the north, a defense ministry official said.
Fourteen rebels died in the fighting and eight soldiers were wounded, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Separate violence in Jaffna, Mannar and Welioya districts left seven rebels and five soldiers dead on Thursday, he said.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not answer calls seeking comment.
It was not possible to independently verify the military’s claims because journalists are banned from the war zone. The government and rebels often exaggerate the other side’s casualties and underreport their own.
Reports of fighting have increased in recent months amid government promises to capture the rebels’ de facto state in the north and crush the group by the end of the year. But diplomats and other observers say the army is facing more resistance than it had expected.
The rebels have fought since 1983 for an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have been marginalized for decades by successive governments run by majority ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.
Meanwhile, fighting was raging near the Catholic pilgrimage area of Madhu in the northwestern coastal district of Mannar, reports by the rebels and the security forces said.
Priests there have moved the highly venerated statue of Mary from the church fearing that it could be hit in the crossfire, church authorities said.
“Today, the historic shrine itself has to seek refuge. I have told the remaining priests to withdraw from the church area in view of the fighting,” Rayappu Joseph, the bishop of Mannar, said by telephone.
The latest defense ministry casualty toll brings to at least 2,616 the number of rebels said to have been killed by security forces since January.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS