மடுவிலிருந்து புலிகள் வெயேற்றம், மடுவை ராணுவம் கைப்பற்றியது

சர்வ மத அமைப்பு, மடுப் பகுதி இராணுவ மயமாவதை நிறுத்தும்படி கடந்த காலங்களில் இலங்கை இராணுவத்தையும், விடுதலைப்புலிகளையும் கேட்டிருந்த நிலையில் தற்போது விடுதலைப்புலிகள் மடுவிலிருந்து வெளியேறி உள்ளதாக வெளிநாட்டு இணையத்தளம் ஒன்று செய்தி வெளியிட்டுள்ளது.

மடு படையினரிடம்

மன்னார்,மடுப் பகுதியை படையினர் கட்டுப்பாட்டுக்குள் கொண்டுவந்துள்ளதாக தேசிய பாதுகாப்புக்கான ஊடக மத்திய நிலயம் தெரிவித்துள்ளது.

Sri Lankan army says it has taken control of revered Catholic church in war zone


The Associated PressPublished: April 25, 2008

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan forces took control Friday of a revered Roman Catholic church that religious groups had feared was in danger of being damaged by the raging civil war between the government and ethnic Tamil separatists, the military said.

The seizure of the church in Madhu — which had been abandoned by the rebels — was an important morale boost for the government two days after scores of soldiers were killed in a fierce battle with the rebels.

However, a cherished statue of the Virgin Mary, a magnet for mass pilgrimages, remained in rebel-controlled territory.

In other fighting, 17 rebels and four soldiers were killed in a series of battles in the north Thursday, the military said. Another 30 had been killed in fighting Wednesday, it said.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment.


Meanwhile, controversy continued to grow in the aftermath of the ferocious battle Wednesday along the front lines at Muhamalai.

The army reported 81 soldiers killed or missing in that fight, though other reports gave far higher death tolls. In a sign of the ongoing confusion, the government-controlled newspaper Daily News reported that 200 rebels had been killed in the battle, while the military said more than 100 were killed.

Both sides routinely inflate enemy death tolls, while underreporting their own losses. Independent accounts of the fighting are rarely available because journalists are barred from the war zone.

The Free Media Movement, a media rights group, complained Friday that the government was giving "watered down figures of war casualties" and barring journalists from hospitals where those wounded in the battle were taken.

"In Sri Lanka today, the saying that the first casualty of war is truth is being proved almost every day," the group said in a statement.

Controversy had also swirled around the centuries-old church in the Mannar region of northern Sri Lanka in recent weeks as the two warring sides accused each other of firing mortars onto church grounds.

Earlier this month, the rebels asked Norwegian peace mediators to intervene to prevent an alleged government assault on the church compound, 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Colombo. The military denied preparing an assault.

After appealing to both sides to avoid fighting near the church, priests removed the Our Lady of Madhu statue from the building several weeks ago and took it deeper into rebel-held territory for safe keeping.

Troops discovered early Friday that the rebels had abandoned the area, and took control of the church without any resistance, the military said in a statement. The military said the area around the church included bunkers and trenches, and the road was covered with earth mounds.

Calls made by the AP to local church officials went unanswered.

The Dutch-built 17th century church has been the site of annual pilgrimages that have attracted hundreds of thousands of worshippers who come to see the statue, believed to have healing powers.

Its position near the front lines of the war has also made it a site of tragedy. In 1999, 44 civilians were killed when artillery shells hit the church. They were among 3,500 people who sought shelter in the church to escape fighting.

Neither side admitted responsibility for the attack.

The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils, who have been marginalized for decades by successive governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.