Posts by pearlaction
“Attacks on media must stop”
[IRIN] The Sri Lankan government is under intense local and international pressure to halt attacks against journalists and media organisations after a newspaper editor was killed and a private television station attacked by unidentified armed gangs. The incidents came as the military announced making significant headway in its battle against Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam…
Read MoreNearly 800 flee Sri Lanka’s war zone – military
[Reuters] Nearly 800 civilians have fled Sri Lanka’s shrinking war zone in the last day as the army bears down on the last strongholds of separatist Tamil Tigers, the military said on Wednesday. Troops are marching to the port of Mullaittivu across a small wedge of northeastern Sri Lanka still held by the Tigers, where…
Read MoreRow over Sri Lanka editor’s murder grows as diplomat censured
[AFP] Sri Lanka’s government censured a senior international diplomat after he spoke at the funeral of a newspaper editor whose murder has been blamed on the island’s rulers, officials said Wednesday. German ambassador Jurgen Weerth was ordered to the Colombo foreign office and told of Sri Lanka’s anger over his graveside eulogy for Lasantha Wickrematunga,…
Read MoreSri Lankan editor row escalates
[BBC] The Sri Lankan government has accused the opposition of trying to gain political advantage from last week’s murder of a prominent newspaper editor. Engineering Services Minister Rajitha Senaratne said he did not know who had killed Lasantha Wickramatunga but it was the opposition that had benefited. The Sunday Leader editor was one of the…
Read MoreArmy pressures Tamil Tiger base
[BBC] Heavy fighting is reported around the sole remaining Tamil Tiger stronghold of Mullaitivu in Sri Lanka as the army presses ahead with its offensive. The defence ministry said troops had captured one “administration base” with jets bombing jungle hideouts. Rebel sources have not commented on the claim, but say civilians have been wounded by…
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