Sri Lankan Refugees Describe Deadly Escape

(NEWSER) - The defeated Tamil Tigers have admitted that leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead, the BBC reports. The rebels declared a week of mourning after their “incomparable leader” was killed while "fighting the military oppression of the Sri Lankan government," a statement said. The Tigers have also renounced violence, said a spokesman, after Sri Lanka's military wiped out their army and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians. More»

(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 of the violence. The Sri Lankan army has broken the remaining Tamil Tiger rebel force into two sections. More»

Ceasefire ends as at least 60 wounded in bus attack

(NEWSER) - At least 26 people were killed and 60 injured after an explosion ripped through a packed bus today in Buttala, Sri Lanka. The bombing was followed by gunfire, which medical workers said was responsible for many of the dead. The attack came as the government abandoned an ineffectual ceasefire with the rebel Tamil Tigers. A second bomb later damaged an armored carrier in the same region and injured three soldiers. 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»

Donations were funneled to Tamil Tigers

(NEWSER) - A hedge-fund manager busted for insider trading has been contributing money to a Sri Lankan terrorist group, according to FBI agents. Raj Rajaratnam came under scrutiny in a federal probe into the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, a charity which was charged with funneling money to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a violent separatist group defeated by the Sri Lankan government last spring. Rajaratnam donated $2 million to TRO USA, which promptly wired the funds to Sri Lankan accounts, according to authorities. More»