U.N. demands full access to Sri Lanka refugees

The United Nations is demanding full access to refugee camps that are home to an estimated quarter of a million people fleeing war in Sri Lanka, the United Nations Children’s Fund said Tuesday. “People are arriving into camps sick, malnourished and some with untended wounds of war,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said in a written statement.

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2-Min. Bio: Tamil Tiger Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran

For more than a quarter-century, the Tamil Tigers have waged a guerilla war against the Sri Lankan government in their attempt to establish an independent state — which they call Eelam — for minority Hindu Tamils in the north and east of the island nation.

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Sri Lanka claims last rebel area taken

Sri Lankan government soldiers seized the last remaining coastal stretch under the control of Tamil Tiger rebels, the Ministry of Defense said Saturday, marking a possible end to a quarter-century-long fight in the island nation. The seizure marks the total capture of coastline territory previously controlled by the rebels, the government said, after army divisions advanced from the north and south to link up.

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British journalists held in Sri Lanka after news report

Sri Lankan authorities on Saturday detained a British news team that produced a report about allegations of abuse and ill-treatment of Tamil refugees. Three journalists from Channel 4 were seized and handed over to Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department for interrogation, police spokesman Ranjih Gunasekera told reporters. The report, aired Tuesday on Channel 4, chronicled the alleged abuse of Tamils in internment camps in the city of Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka, where fighting has raged between government and rebels

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Sri Lanka: Troops close in on rebels

Tamil Tiger rebels have been pinned down by Sri Lankan government troops in a small section of the country’s north, the Ministry of Defense claimed Tuesday. “Security forces have now cornered the remaining [rebels], including its most wanted terror chiefs,” the ministry’s Web site reported, saying the rebels are confined to less than 2 square miles (4.5 sq

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Deadline passes for Tamil rebels

Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka faced another possible onslaught from government forces, as a mid-day deadline for them to surrender passed on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports from northern Sri Lanka where recent fighting has been taking place.

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