After Somalia, looks like another country is risking the beginning, well, er, continuing of another bloody war: Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Rebels sink Sri Lankan navy boat
Violence in Sri Lanka today escalated sharply as a navy patrol boat was sunk by Tamil Tiger rebels and the military carried out retaliatory attacks on rebel ships and bases. At least 15 Sri Lankan navy sailors were missing after the patrol boat’s sinking, which happened as the boat’s crew tried to defend a troop carrier with more than 700 soldiers on board off the country’s northern coast. A naval spokesman said the patrol boat had been in a convoy escorting the carrier when it was attacked by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Background of this issue in TIME.com:
In spite of how relatively obscure their rebel cause is on the world stage, the attacks by Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (L.T.T.E) always seem to draw lots of attention. Such was the case Thursday when a squadron of speedboat suicide bombers rammed into a Sri Lankan navy troop carrier convoy off the country’s northern coast, killing 17 sailors. The Sri Lankan government claimed to kill more than 50 Tamil Tigers in return, but the deadly operation had already reminded the world that the Tigers are the fathers of modern-day suicide bombing - not only masters at keeping up a fresh supply of new recruits, but also willing exporters of their expertise.
Civil War Looms After Sri Lanka Sea Battle - Examiner.com
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - At least 50 rebels were killed and 17 Sri Lankan sailors missing after a sea battle Thursday instigated by the Tamil Tigers left the country on the brink of civil war. Tamil Tigers sank a navy patrol boat off the northern coast as it escorted a troop transport carrying 710 soldiers. In retaliation, the navy downed five rebel vessels and the air force launched airstrikes on guerrilla-held territory. The escalation in violence could mark a return to civil war, as a 2002 cease-fire that stopped almost two decades of fighting appears increasingly unlikely to last. “This is a very serious attack (by the Tigers), a blatant violation of the cease-fire agreement,” government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told The Associated Press.
The truce monitor says they are at war.
More in Yahoo News.
Eeh, and the Tamil Rebels Threaten a Return to War - Examiner.com
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Tamil rebels on Saturday threatened to resume war if they are denied access to the sea and claimed naval forces killed eight Tamil civilians in an attack in northern Sri Lanka.
You can see a chronology of the attacks of the Tamil TERRORISTS here (CAUTION: harmful photos). BBC also has a report on them.
From Times On Line:
Violence has cost Sri Lanka dear. About 64,000 people have been killed and a million displaced. Investors have been scared away, development has been stunted, tourism hurt; terrorism has got a grip in the island and among Tamil communities overseas. With evidence of widespread intimidation of Tamils abroad, many countries, including Britain, have proscribed the Tigers. After India’s ill-fated attempt at peacekeeping and the assassination in 1991 of Rajiv Gandhi, there is concern at the possible spread of the conflict into India - though, so far, little evidence of this or of support from Indian Tamils for the rebels. A return to war would be a disastrous setback. Both the Government and rebels must be made to see the cost of such folly.
With that results is astonishing they want to begin another civil war. Or continue the last one.
And to the calls by the European Union about the attack, the Tamil rebels have answered: From News from Russia:
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Wednesday denounced as unfair and one-sided the European Union’s decision to bar the Sri Lankan separatists from entering EU member countries.
“The Tamil people and the Liberation Tigers are shocked at this decision by the EU,” the guerillas’ political wing chief S.P. Thamilselvan told reporters in the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.
The EU said in a statement Monday that Tamil Tiger representatives will be refused entry to member states until further notice while the body decides whether to add the group to its list of terrorist organizations, according to the AP.
The statement said the Tigers’ “continuing use of violence and terrorism” threatened the country’s fragile peace process.
Well, er, this in fact is undermining the European Union policy about the word terrorism. Hmm, well, that is ONLY for Islamic terrorists in fact…
Tags: Sri Lanka, terrorism, Tamil Tigers, terrorist organisations, European Union
