[Kabar-indonesia] 13 Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger rebels arrested in Indonesia: report

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: Sri Lanka death toll hits 119 as troops halt offensive

Xinhua News Agency
August 30, 2006

13 Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger rebels arrested in Indonesia: report

The Indonesian police claimed Wednesday it has arrested 13 suspected members 
of Sri Lanka's separatist group Tamil Tiger during a recent raid in the 
southern Java coast.

The raid targeted a group of 20 men who stayed at a small hotel in Pandeglang 
regency, Banten province, about 100 km southwest of Jakarta, reported the 
national Antara news agency.

A police spokesman was quoted as saying seven members of the group escaped 
the raid but search is underway.

"Most of them are young people with muscular bodies and crew cut hair," said 
Banten police spokesman Sen. Commr. Sudaryanto.

He said the 13 men had been handed to the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM) office in Jakarta.

They stayed at the hotel after their boat was stranded in the coast Tuesday. 
They reportedly were moving to Australia.

Police said all the detainees failed to show travel documents.

But it was unclear why police suspected them as Tamil Tiger rebels.

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Agence France-Presse
August 30, 2006

Sri Lanka death toll hits 119 as troops halt offensive

Sri Lankan troops facing heavy resistance halted an advance into territory 
held by the rebel Tamil Tigers, as the death toll from recent fighting hit 119, 
officials and guerrillas said.

The drive to nullify rebel artillery guns in Sampur town, which threaten the 
strategically important naval port of Trincomalee about 10 kilometres (six 
miles) away, stalled because of rebel resistance, a military officer said.

He said artillery duels had died down Tuesday, but war planes bombed 
suspected Tamil Tiger bases north of Trincomalee in a bid to knock out guerrilla 
supplies.

The battle for Sampur included air, artillery and ground attacks over late 
Sunday and Monday. Military sources said 15 soldiers were killed and another 92 
wounded.

It is the latest bloody clash in Sri Lanka's three-decade-old ethnic 
conflict, which has escalated since December after a February 2002 ceasefire began 
unravelling.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also shelled an army camp in the 
neighbouring district of Batticaloa.

"There were heavy mortar attacks against Vavunathivu army camp at Batticaloa 
and troops retaliated in kind," the military officer told AFP by phone from 
the region. "We have no details of casualties there yet."

Meanwhile troops killed at least 16 Tiger guerrillas in the northern town of 
Vavuniya after they attempted to attack a military bunker line early Tuesday, 
the defence ministry said in a statement.

It said two civilians were also gunned down by unidentified gunmen in 
Vavuniya.

The LTTE, which wants to carve out a homeland for Sri Lanka's minority 
Tamils, complaining they are discriminated against, said 20 civilians were killed 
and 26 injured in air and artillery attacks late Monday.

The rebel group did not list any casualties it may have suffered in the 
Sampur fighting. The defence ministry said at least 66 rebels were killed on Monday 
by security forces in and around Sampur.

It was not possible to get independent verification of the casualty figures.

The ministry said the Sampur offensive was launched after the rebels fired 
mortar bombs and small arms at security forces from their positions in the town.

A military official in Trincomalee said long-range artillery attacks by the 
Tigers threaten troops and supplies as well as civilians in the area.

Trincomalee is the starting point for soldiers and supplies sent to the 
embattled northern Jaffna peninsula. The port is also the site of an oil storage 
facility that provides energy security for Sri Lanka's 19.5 million people.

Nordic truce monitors have said Sri Lanka's current ceasefire holds on paper 
only. At least 1,500 people have been killed in fighting since December.

A previous truce ended in April 1995 when the rebels sank two naval boats 
anchored at Trincomalee harbour, which lies some 260 kilometres (160 miles) 
northeast of the capital.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in the Sri Lankan conflict. 
Political talks on ending the violence stalled in April 2003.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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