Posted in Afghanistan, Body Count, Central Asia, Civilian Casualties, Crossfire Deaths, Crossfire Injuries, Gunfire, ISAF, NATO/Allies, Rocket, Taliban, tagged Afghanistan, children, Civilian Casualties, civilians wounded, Helmand province, human shields, Nato, Taliban on February 24, 2010 |
By Heidi Vogt
Associated Press
KABUL – The Afghan human rights commission reported Wednesday that 28 civilians have been killed so far in NATO’s offensive on the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, and urged pro-government forces to take greater care in distinguishing between noncombatants and militants. (more…)
Posted in Actors, Blogroll, Body Count, Country, Fact Finding, Government, Insurgents, NGOs, Other, Region, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, tagged Amnesty International, Civilian Casualties, civilian death toll, civilian deaths, grave sites, graveyards, human shields, LTTE, mortar, safe zone, satellite images, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan government, Tamil Tigers, war zone on August 13, 2009 |
AP
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A series of satellite images taken over Sri Lanka’s former war zone showed the existence of large grave sites and evidence of possible mortar positions near areas that had been packed with trapped civilians, a human rights group said Thursday.
The release of the images was intended to challenge government claims that the military had ceased using heavy weapons in the final months of its war against the Tamil Tiger rebels in the jungles of the north to prevent large-scale civilian deaths.
U.N. reports show more than 7,000 civilians were killed in fighting between mid-January and May, when the military routed the remaining rebels. Rights groups accused the government of heavily shelling civilian areas and the rebels of holding tens of thousands of noncombatants as human shields. Both sides denied the accusations. (more…)
Posted in Actors, Afghanistan, Air Strike, Central Asia, Civilian Casualties, Country, Government, Insurgents, ISAF, Military, NATO/Allies, Police, Region, Tactics, Taliban, Type of Harm, United States, tagged Afghan National Army, Afghan police forces, Afghanistan, airstrikes, Civilian Casualties, Helmand, human shields, Taliban, us military on July 2, 2009 |
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The nation’s top military officer said yesterday that no limits have been placed on the number or types of troops the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan can request as he seeks to carry out a counterinsurgency strategy there. (more…)
Posted in Civilian Casualties, Crossfire Deaths, Crossfire Injuries, Displacement, Government, Ground Assault, Hostages, Journalists, Military, Mortars, NGOs, Refugee Camps, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Targeted Death, Targeted Injury, Terrorists, United Nations, tagged Britain, cease-fire, Civilian Casualties, EU, European Union, France, Government, human shields, IMF, innocent civilians, innocent victims, International Monetary Fund, Journalists, LTTE, NGOs, OHCHR, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tamil Tigers, Terrorists, UN, UNHCR, United Nations, United Nations High Comissioner for Refugees, United Nations Security Council, UNSC, war victims on April 30, 2009 |
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — One of the highest-level European delegations to visit this war-torn country in years has failed to persuade the Sri Lankan government to declare a temporary truce with ethnic Tamil rebels.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphatically rejected the appeal Thursday and told Western governments to stop lecturing him, news agencies reported.
“The government is not ready to enter into any kind of cease-fire with the terrorists,” he said. “It is my duty to protect the people of this country. I don’t need lectures from Western representatives,” he said in a speech distributed by his office and quoted by the agencies.
Posted in Bomb, Civilian Casualties, Crossfire Deaths, Crossfire Injuries, Diplomacy, Displacement, Foreign Aid, Government, Gunfire, Health Care, Military, Mortars, NGOs, Refugee Camps, Rocket, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Suicide Bomb, Targeted Death, Targeted Injury, Terrorists, United Nations, tagged cease-fire, EU, European Union, Foreign Aid, Government, Gunfire, healthcare, human shields, humanitarian mission, India, Journalists, LTTE, Military, Mortars, NGOs, rebels, Shells, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, suicide bombs, Sweden, Tamil Tigers, Terrorists on April 28, 2009 |
By Thomas Fuller, The New York Times
Increasingly impatient with foreign calls for a pause in its war against Tamil rebels, the Sri Lankan government denied entry to the Swedish foreign minister who had planned to take part in a European Union humanitarian mission, Sweden said Tuesday.
Sweden said it would recall its chief diplomat in Sri Lanka.
Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and now the country’s foreign minister, told reporters in Luxembourg that his visa application was turned down by Colombo and accused the Sri Lankan government of “exceedingly strange behavior.”
