quote:

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Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has been assassinated in a gun attack in the capital, Colombo.

The murder was being blamed by a senior police officer on the Tamil Tigers separatist rebels, who have been observing a ceasefire since 2002.

But the ceasefire has been under recent growing strain, amid rebel claims that the government was continuing to conduct a covert war against them.

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Apparently, Kadirgamar was himself a Tamil.

Anyway, Sri Lanka imposes emergency rule (BBC story).

[rant about journalistic bugboo]One thing that's always really annoyed me about reporting on Sri Lanka is that the word "terrorism" is always used to so sloppily. It's a nationalist struggle, limited to Sri Lanka for the most part. Yes, the Tamils use less than honourable tactics. So do the government forces. To conflate civil wars with the Bin Ladens just muddies the waters. It helps no one.[/end rant]

ETA: Sri Lanka timeline Note however the very early parts of this timeline should be treated sceptically. Both Sinhalese and Tamils present different competing versions of the early settlement of Sri Lanka.

[ 13 August 2005: Message edited by: kurichina ]