Our World

Trouble in Sri Lanka

Recently the bodies of 11 Muslim men were found in a remote jungle on the east side of Sri Lanka. The bodies were found hacked to death , and the military blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the murders. Another man is supposed to have survived the massacre and is being treated in a hospital. The Muslim men were thought to have set out to repair a irrigation system when they were attacked. Muslims are Sri Lanka’s second largest minority, right after the Tamils, whom are mostly Hindu. The Muslims generally oppose the Tamil Tigers, who also dislike the Muslims for supporting the government and also cultivating in areas the Tamils consider their own.

In other areas of Sri Lanka, the rebels continue to cause trouble. For example, rebels are suspected to have killed a Sri Lankan soldier and a women in the northern part of the country. Also, in the Jaffna Peninsula, soldiers exchanged fire with rebels. Luckily, it seems no one is thought to have been injured. The latest violence comes a day after Sri Lankan battleships and warplanes intercepted a Tamil Tiger rebel shipment of weapons. The soldiers sunk the ship and killed 15 insurgents. The ship had a raised rebel flag, and after 8 hours of engagement, the ship was hit and sunk.

The rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland since 1983. The 3.2 million ethnic Tamils want to separate to the northeast of the country, due to decades of discrimination from the Buddhist Sinhalese majority. Because of the conflict, about 65,000 people died before a cease-fire in 2002. However this has recently unraveled and has since claimed the lives of hundreds more and driving around 220,000 people away from their homes. This is another example of centripetal forces and how differences in religions can cause death and destruction.


Link for more information-Sri Lanka claims rebel massacre

posted by Anonymous @ 9/18/2006 10:31:00 PM