November
15, 2006: The government plans a 45 percent increase in the defense budget next
year (to $1.3 billion.) No one will call the renewed fighting a war, but that's
apparently what the government is getting ready for.
November
14, 2006: The UN is accusing the government of controlling LTTE rebels (the
Karuna faction) and encouraging the recruitment of children for both the army
and the Karuna group. The UN has become an advocate for eliminating the ancient
practice of recruiting 16-17 year olds as soldiers. The UN also assumes that
the government controls the Karuna group, when it's more likely the government
just supports the Karuna LTTE faction. The LTTE has long recruited
adolescents as young as 14. Meanwhile, two LTTE roadside bombs in the north
killed four soldiers. The navy sank an LTTE boat off the north coast, killing
eight rebels.
November
12, 2006: Sinhalese and Tamil political parties are apparently using death
squads to attack each other. The LTTE has long used murder of opposition
politicians as a tactic, but now pro-government groups are doing it as
well.
November
11, 2006: The LTTE threatened to kill Sinhalese civilians in the south, because
of the recent death of Tamil civilians used as human shields. The LTTE has been
killing Sinhalese civilians for over a decade, in terror attacks, so this new
threat doesn't have much impact. About a hundred LTTE military leaders have
moved from eastern Sri Lanka to the north, apparently in preparation for a
major operation up there, and recognition that they may lost control of the
east.
November
10, 2006: In the capital, a pro-LTTE Tamil legislator was murdered, shortly
after he had broadcast accusations that the army was deliberately killing Tamil
civilians. This was all about a recent incident where LTTE rebels used Tamil
refugees as human shields, by firing artillery from within a refugee camp, and
the return fire killed some fifty civilians.
November
9, 2006: Off the north coast, LTTE boats attacked a passenger ship
with 300 people on board. A navy patrol boat was sunk, along with 22 LTTE
boats. Air force warplanes and helicopter gunships quickly entered the battle,
and accounted for most of the boats sunk. Some of the LTTE craft were apparently
rigged as suicide bomb boats. In another naval battle, two navy gunboats were
sunk, and four sailors captured.
