Sri Lanka Kills 1K Civilians in Raid: Rebels

(AP) - 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," he said, referring to the rebels by their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. More»

Tamil Tigers now occupy just 620 sq. miles

(AP) - 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 miles they still hold in the northeast, dealing a blow to the insurgents’ 25-year campaign to create an independent state, the AP reports. More»

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 them with only one remaining stronghold. More»

Military blamed for death of tens of thousands of civilians in 2009

(NEWSER) - Civilians were slaughtered by Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tigers alike in the bloody final phase of the island nation's civil war, according to a hard-hitting report from a United Nations panel. The report accuses the Sri Lankan military of urging civilians in the separatist north to gather in "no-fire zones," which were then shelled extensively by the government, killing tens of thousands of people in early 2009. The Tigers, for their part, used civilians as human shields and shot those who tried to flee, according to the files. The atrocities "would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity," read the report. More»

Ethnic tensions remain as Tamil rebels lay down arms

(NEWSER) - The Sri Lankan government finally prevailed in its 26-year civil war with Tamil rebels with a brutal campaign, leaving thousands dead and 300,000 displaced. Now, reports the Wall Street Journal, the country must try living in peace after years of assassinations and abductions from both sides. Tamils "should be able to live without fear and mistrust," said the country's president—but ethnic tensions are still flaring. More»