1.5 kg heroin seized from Lankan Tamil

Heroin seizures in the state continued for the third consecutive day on Thursday as the 'Q' Branch of the state police and Narcotics Control Bureau seized 1.5 kg heroin worth Rs 1.5 crore in the international market from a Sri Lankan Tamil in Ramanathapuram.

The team arrested Niranjan, a Sri Lankan Tamil and his associate Velamayil, a resident of Ramanathapuram, on charges of attempt to smuggle the contraband to Sri Lanka. The duo was trying to get a boat to smuggle the contraband to Sri Lanka.

"He had just arrived in Ramanathapuram from Mumbai. He brought the drug by train," Davidson Devasirvatham, director, NCB, south zone, told The Times Of India. Niranjan brought the drug from Mumbai to Chennai and took it to Madurai by train and later to Ramanathapuram. He was carrying the drug in polythene packets kept inside a bag, officials said.

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/

SL Prez assures end of LTTE domination

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said the LTTE domination in the northern part of the country would end soon and asked the people to vote for the government-backed alliance in the forthcoming Provincial Council elections in the eastern region.

"The security forces are advancing step by step in the northern theatre too. Soon the people there too would be liberated," Rajapaksa said in his May Day rally yesterday at Dehiattakandiya in Ampara district of eastern Sri Lanka.

"The Eastern populace is poised to hand over a resounding victory to the Government at the May 10 Provincial Council Election to continue the momentum of the Eastern Resurgence programme," Rajapaksa said.

"We know the Easterners are a grateful people. They will show that on May 10. They will never let Prabhakaran take back the East. A vote for the Government is a vote for peace and development. A vote for the Opposition will be an endorsement of Prabhakaran. We need your support to take the development process forward," he said.

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http://news.indiainfo.com/2008/05/02/0805021359_lanka-rajapaksa.html

Advancing troops capture Karukkakulama town area- Mannar

Troops gained total control over Karukkakulama town area, located North West of Parappakandal in Mannar yesterday (May 1), following concentrated amour and artillery shell attacks at LTTE, security sources said.

Army infantrymen made swift incursions into the LTTE strong point and have reportedly captured 1.6km of land stretch in the area at around 6a.m. According to military sources, a soldier has laid his life, while another was wounded during the advances made on Thursday.

Meanwhile, ground sources citing intercepted LTTE communication said that, LTTE has suffered at least 15 fatalities during confrontations erupted with troops.

Extracted from,
http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080502_05

Extortion filling Tiger coffers - US State Department

The LTTE continued to finance itself with contributions from the Tamil Diaspora in North America, Europe, and Australia, by imposing local "taxes" on businesses operating in the areas it dominates and reportedly by extortion operations in Government-controlled areas, the US State Department said yesterday.

The Department's just-released Country Report on Terrorism said the LTTE also used Tamil charitable organizations as fronts for its fundraising.

"In November, the US Government designated under Executive Order 13224 and froze the US-held assets of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, a charity associated with the LTTE. The LTTE previously used such funds for weapons purchases on the international black market and also captured arms from Sri Lankan security forces. The Sri Lankan Navy sunk three LTTE supply ships in September and another in October," the report said.

After a period of targeting Sri Lankan military and official personnel throughout 2007, the LTTE appears to have recently resumed its targeting of civilians, the Report noted.

It said the Government took effective control of the Eastern Province in midyear, but the LTTE continued to control much of the north and carried out attacks throughout the country.

Read more,
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/05/02/sec01.asp

Iran-Sri Lanka strategic relations

Common borders, faith and culture are enabling factors that facilitate inter-state ties. These are, however, neither necessary nor sufficient elements. Relations between a Muslim Pakistan and a communist China, a multi-ethnic Sri Lanka and a Muslim Iran, a Hindu India and a Christian Russia underscore this point. Two factors that determine the potential and progress of inter-state relations are ‘compulsions’ and ‘conditions’. Palpability of situation, emanating from mutual distrust and induction of weapons of mass destruction has possibly made this region the most tension-ridden and insecure. These causes continue to haunt professors of peace the world over.

In recent days, exchange of high level delegation between Iran and Sri Lanka has opened a new door of scepticism for India. In response to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tour to Iran in November last year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was scheduled to visit Sri Lanka. It is not a customary development insofar as India is concerned. Indian think tanks have started throwing full venom against the emerging relations between these two states.

Sri Lanka is a centuries-old Indian Ocean state, which has retained its entity and enjoyed sovereignty in various forms through the years of its existence as a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual plural society. Of late, it caught up in a quagmire of internal ethnic strife that has hitherto claimed innumerable precious lives, weakened its ideological composition and built quite a bad image across the globe.

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http://thepost.com.pk/OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=158772&catid=11

Six major attacks attributed to Piliyandala bomber

Police investigating the recent Piliyandala bomb blast, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians and wounded over 60, believe that Wasanthan, arrested in connection with the blast, had been involved in six major attacks, including the assassination of Deputy Army Chief of Staff Major General Parami Kulatunga.

According to investigators, the suspect had also been involved in the Mount Lavinia bus attack, a claymore mine blast directed at an army truck at Belekkade junction, Ratmalana, The blast at a clothing store at Nugegoda and the attempt to assassinate EPDP leader Douglas Devananda.

Police believe the suspect had been responsible for the devastating claymore mine attack on an SLTB bus at Kebitigollewa. Under interrogation, the suspect and two others, including a Sinhalese in custody for his involvement with the LTTE, had said they had plans to trigger explosions on eight more buses in the Western Province.

Extracted from,
http://www.island.lk/2008/05/02/news18.html

Army razed to ground the LTTE's 19 (one nine) Base

The Sri Lanka Army razed to ground the LTTE's 19 (one nine) Base, a strong point northeast of Giant's Tank successfully today. Troops from the 59 Division operating in Weli Oya were again targeted by a heavy barrage of artillery fire.

Shells fell close to civilian settlements at Janakapura and Kiriibbanwewa again today. A civilian injured in an artillery fire at Yaya 11 Padavi Sripura yesterday was admitted to Padaviya Hospital last afternoon.

Troops operating along the Janakapura-Adankulam road in Weli Oya today which is appropriately titled by soldiers as "Jayamawatha", managed to kill 5 Tigers in isolated incidents. Over 100 anti-personnel mines were also recovered today. The fighting continues in dense jungles.

Two STF personnel were killed in general area Dutuwewa in Kebitigollewa, Anuradhapura. The STF road picket returned fire killing two LTTE infiltrators.

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http://defencewire.blogspot.com/2008/05/army-beating-on-lttes-backdoor.html