Sri Lankan troops infiltrated separatist Tamil rebel territory in the embattled north and blew up a car, killing a top rebel intelligence official and three others who were inside, a pro-rebel Web site reported yesterday.
The roadside blast that killed Shanmuganathan Ravishankar, also known as Colonel Charles, took place on Saturday in northern Mannar district, TamilNet said. Ravishankar was in charge of the rebels' ground troop intelligence, the report said.
A Defense Ministry official said the military had not targeted Ravishankar with a bomb, and that he could have been killed in a number of clashes with soldiers on Saturday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The military earlier reported it killed at least 36 Tamil Tiger rebels in skirmishes in the north on Saturday, just days after the government officially withdrew from a 2002 ceasefire with the rebels.
Troops destroyed four bunkers in the Nagarkovil and Muhamalai areas of Jaffna peninsula, killing six guerrillas, the Defense Ministry said.
Separately, soldiers attacked two bunkers in Mannar district's Adampan village and exchanged artillery rounds with the rebels, killing 10 of them, the ministry said.
In Parappaankandal village, also in Mannar, soldiers overran six rebel bunkers and killed 10 guerrillas, the ministry said in a statement.
Ten more rebels died on Saturday in clashes in three villages bordering Mannar, the statement said. Nine soldiers were wounded.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not available to comment on the military's claims. It was not possible to obtain independent confirmation of the clashes because journalists are not allowed in the conflict areas.
Both sides often release inflated casualty figures for their opponent while lowering their own.
More than 70,000 people have been killed since the rebels began fighting in 1983 for an independent state for the ethnic Tamil minority, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I