civil war

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Sri Lanka Declares Victory Over Tigers
 Sri Lanka Declares 
 Victory Over Tigers 
updated
May 16, 2009 11:36 AM CDT

Sri Lanka Declares Victory Over Tigers

(Newser) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that his country had defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels on the battlefield and emerged victorious from its quarter-century civil war. "My government, with the total commitment of our armed forces, has in an unprecedented humanitarian operation finally defeated the LTTE militarily,"...

Sri Lanka Military Cuts Off Rebel Sea Escape

Tigers lose access to sea as military vows to end 25-year war by nightfall

(Newser) - Sri Lankan forces took control of the island's entire coastline today for the first time in decades, sealing the Tamil Tigers in a tiny pocket of territory and cutting off the possibility of a sea escape by the rebels' top leaders, the AP reports. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed to...

Myanmar Gov't, Rebels on Collision Course

(Newser) - The tense peace between Myanmar’s military rulers and various armed ethnic groups may fracture into war next year when the government implements a controversial new constitution, the New York Times reports. The constitution requires the rebels to disarm, without granting them the de facto autonomy they currently enjoy in...

378 Civilians Reported Dead in Sri Lanka Artillery Barrage

1,100 injured; rebels, army blame each other

(Newser) - An all-night artillery barrage in Sri Lanka's war zone killed at least 378 civilians and forced thousands to flee to makeshift shelters, a government doctor said today. The army and Tamil Tiger rebels each blamed the other for the barrage, which the doctor said left at least 1,100 people...

Doctor: 64 Dead in Shelling of Sri Lankan Hospital

(Newser) - Artillery shells hit a makeshift hospital in Sri Lanka's northern war zone today, killing at least 64 civilians, a government doctor reports, amid growing international pressure to safeguard thousands of civilians trapped in the area. A rebel-linked website accused government forces of shelling the hospital, while the military said soldiers...

EU Urges Sri Lanka Ceasefire; 50K Trapped

British, French foreign ministers arrive on island as war rages

(Newser) - The foreign ministers of France and Britain arrived in Sri Lanka today and urged the government to accept a ceasefire in its war with ethnic Tamil rebels. Bernard Kouchner and David Miliband insisted that the fighting must stop now in order to safeguard the estimated 50,000 civilians trapped in...

Sri Lanka Restarts Airstrikes, Bars Diplomat

Swedish foreign minister refused entry days before trip

(Newser) - The Sri Lankan army bombarded the tiny coastal strip where ethnic Tamil rebels are mounting their last stand, the Guardian reports—a day after the government said it would end airstrikes. Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in the region. The eruption comes as Sweden’s foreign minister, scheduled...

Sri Lanka Army Ends Combat, Begins Rescue

Civilian deaths keep mounting in civil war's endgame

(Newser) - The Sri Lankan army has announced an end to shelling in the tiny coastal strip where the Tamil Tigers mounted their last stand in the 26-year civil war, CNN reports. The army is set to move in and rescue trapped civilians whose situation the UN has called catastrophic; many were...

6,500 Civilians Dead as Sri Lanka War Nears End

Army, rebels both accused of exacerbating death toll

(Newser) - Nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians have been killed in the last 3 months of fighting in Sri Lanka, the UN estimates. The level of civilian deaths has increased dramatically as the bloody 26-year civil war draws to a close, with the army pressing Tamil separatists into a tiny coastal...

UN Orders Sri Lanka Rebels to Surrender

End of 26-year war in sight as army boxes in Tamil Tigers

(Newser) - The UN Security Council has called on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers to surrender after 26 years of civil war as the country's army claims victory is within reach. More than 150,000 Sri Lankans have been displaced as the army has advanced to the island's north, trapping the Tigers in...

Up to 110K Civilians Flee Sri Lankan War Zone

(Newser) - Thousands more civilians flooded out of the final battlefield in Sri Lanka’s civil war today, bringing the total number of displaced to more than 80,000, Reuters reports. The UN said that number could be as high as 110,000, though only 7,500 had reached refugee camps clear...

Sri Lanka Kills 1K Civilians in Raid: Rebels

Government denies claim, says noncombatants escaped from rebel areas

(Newser) - Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels said today that 1,000 civilians died in a government raid on their territory, an operation the military says freed thousands of noncombatants from the war zone. Government forces deny the accusation, and say they rescued thousands of civilians yesterday after they broke through a barrier...

Thousands Flee Sri Lanka Fighting

Rebels given 24 hours to surrender as civilians pour out of last Tiger stronghold

(Newser) - At least 25,000 civilians have fled the Tamil Tigers' last stronghold in Sri Lanka as the government prepares its final push to end the civil war, reports the BBC. Tens of thousands of civilians remain in the densely packed coastal strip, which was originally set up as a safe...

Sri Lankan Army Seizes Last Big Rebel Base

Loss is latest setback for beleaguered Tamil Tiger separatists

(Newser) - The Sri Lankan army says it has captured the last urban Tamil Tiger base in a surprise morning assault, CNN reports. Soldiers and rebels battled fiercely for the town of Mullaittivu, the latest effort in the army’s recent campaign to capture Tiger areas. The army says the rebels are...

Sri Lanka Bombs Rebels After Seizing Their HQ

Tamil Tigers now occupy just 620 sq. miles

(Newser) - Sri Lankan air force jets and helicopters bombed a series of rebel targets in the north and northeast, the military said, as soldiers pressed deeper into Tamil Tiger territory a day after capturing the insurgents' de facto capital. The fall of Kilinochchi has squeezed ethnic minority Tamils into 620 square...

Sri Lankan Troops Capture Rebel Capital

Tamil Tigers flee into jungle as government makes final push to crush separatists

(Newser) - Sri Lankan government troops have captured the Tamil Tiger capital of Kilinochchi after months of heavy fighting, Reuters reports. Soldiers are mopping up the last of the rebel resistance and many have fled into the jungle, say officials. The capture of Kilonochchi is a devastating blow to the Tigers, leaving...

Biggest Stories You Didn't Hear in '08

Catching up on the stuff blotted out by the election and financial crisis

(Newser) - Election coverage and reports on the financial crisis ate up much of the media's attention in '08—while some major news stories went under-reported. Time runs down the biggest:
  1. A Pentagon gaffe accidentally sent nuclear warhead fuses to Taiwan in 2006; the mix-up was noted this year—by the Taiwanese.
...

Congo's Crisis at Breaking Point

EU, African Union scramble to broker peace deal as Nkunda attacks

(Newser) - European and African officials held crisis talks last night to avert a complete meltdown in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the civil war risks degenerating into genocide. The diplomatic push came as Laurent Nkunda, the Tutsi general, led 10,000 rebels into battle in a province bordering Rwanda, which...

Aid Worker Murders Cripple Somali Relief

As crisis reaches flashpoint, 'organized terror campaign' drives out help

(Newser) - Aid workers are fleeing Somalia, even as global food prices soar and a full-blown famine is feared, in response to what officials say is an organized campaign of violence. Messages posted in the capital and sent to aid organizations threaten: “We know all the so-called aid workers. We promise...

Mugabe: Opposition Will Never Rule, Even If It Wins

Threatens 'bush war' if 'British puppets' elected

(Newser) - As an opposition leader arrested on charges of treason appeared in court in Zimbabwe today, President Robert Mugabe was declaring that his competitors in the Movement for Democratic Change would never be allowed to rule the country, even if they win the upcoming runoff presidential election, the Independent reports. "...

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