The Independent reports that at least 95 (up from the initial estimate of 92) Sri Lankan naval personell were killed on Monday in Habarana in an alleged suicide attack by the Tamil Tigers, the armed separatist group that since the 1970s has saught the establishment of an autonomous Tamil state in northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka.
According to the Independent, a truck packed with explosives rammed into a convoy of approximately fifteen buses transporting naval personell from the Trincomalee naval port, killing 95 people. The Tamil Tigers have reportedly refused to confirm or deny their involvement in the attack, which they descibed as "justified". The attack occurred less than a week after 129 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in just a single day of heavy fighting with the Tigers.
This year alone, no less than 2,000 people have been killed in violent clashes between the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers. A ceasefire declared in 2002 more or less disintengrated amid violent clashes that first erupted in July. The Independent reports that while diplomats and political analysts generally agree that the Tigers have actively attempted to goad the Sri Lankan military back to civil war with a series of violent attacks against Sri Lankan forces since December 2005, international goodwill towards the Sri Lankan government has been thoroughly tested since the southeast Asian state launched a series of military ground offensives against the Tigers. None the less, 29 countries have listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization.
The Sri Lankan government has also come under recent pressure over the deaths of 17 French local aid workers who were found dead in their office following an outbreak of heavy fighting in the northeastern town of Muttur. The aid workers were part of the French NGO Action Contre La Faim, and had been stationed in Sri Lanka as part of a Tsunami relief program.
-Travis
Link to the story below.
'Cold-blooded' massacre kills 92 Sri Lankan sailors (The Independent)
Updates:
10.18.06 Tamil Tigers open new front with resort attack
(The Independent)
hi i am macedonian and i was just want to ask you do you know what is happening in my country
ReplyDeleteWell now that you mention it I have read that Macedonia has recently placed NATO and EU membership bids (heavily backed by the U.S.) and I'v also heard that the nation of Bulgaria is currently renovating a major military cemetary in Macedonia. Is there something else in particular currently taking place in Macedonia that I should know about? -Travis
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