According to the Defence Ministry, over 2,500 LTTE cadres have been killed by the military since 1 January 2008, and more than 7,200 Tigers have been killed since December 2005.
Archive for March, 2008
The Thamil Makkal Vidudal Puligal (TMVP) party wins 72 of 101 seats on nine local councils, the first elections in Eastern Sri Lanka for 14 years. For the municipal council of Batticaloa, the TMVP - contesting the elections under the banner of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) - secured 11 of its 19 seats after obtaining 53.77 percent of the 26,331 valid votes.
TNA parliamentarian for the Jaffna District, K. Sivanesan is killed in a claymore mine explosion.
The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), established to oversee the government's Commission of Inquiry into serious human rights cases, resigns.
The Supreme Court dismisses a petition seeking postponement of elections to the local bodies in Batticaloa.
A suspected LTTE bomb attack of a civilian bus traveling in the town of Buttala (150 miles south east of Colombo) kills 27 people and injures 67 others. Reports that most of the victims were shot by LTTE cadres.
Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) leaves Sri Lanka, following the government's termination of the ceasefire agreement.
The Minister for Nation Building, D.M. Dassanayake, is killed in a suspected LTTE claymore mine attack of his convoy of vehicles in the Jah-Ela area, outside Colombo.
The government unilaterally terminates its Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE. The termination would take effect on 16 January 2008, 14 days from the date of the government's notice.
Colombo District United National Party (UNP) legislator T. Maheswaran is shot dead at a Hindu temple in the suburbs of Colombo.
A U.N. investigator, Manfred Nowak, special rapporteur on torture for the U.N. Human Rights Council calls upon the government to take seriously reports of widespread use of torture by security forces in their battle with LTTE along with a list of other recommendations following a week-long visit on an official invitation.
LTTE aircraft and ground troops, in a two pronged assault, attack the Sri Lankan air force base in Anuradhapura.
Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers in the UK may be at risk of torture if returned to Sri Lanka, according to a landmark ruling by a British tribunal.
Civil rights groups accuse Sri Lanka's Jaffna Military commander of instructing the NGOs and civil society representatives not to refer to human rights issues and to "restrict themselves to issues of humanitarian assistance" before meeting the United Nations Under Secretary General, Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes.
The Chief District Secretary of the Eastern province is shot dead in Trincomalee. The Government accuses the LTTE.
