[BBC]

A suicide bombing in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, has killed at least five members of the paramilitary civil defence force, military officials said. The bomber hit a checkpoint near a market in Wattala, a suburb of Colombo, the officials said. No group has claimed to have carried out the attack, but it follows heavy fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and the army in the north of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan navy says it has sunk a boat carrying supplies to the rebels.

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[VoA]

As violence surges in Sri Lanka, so does the number of abductions and disappearance of mostly Tamil men. That is the assessment of human rights activists and international aid groups operating in the Indian Ocean nation. Raymond Thibodeaux files this report for VOA from Batticolao, on the eastern edge of Sri Lanka. Soli Chana, 23, is trying to find out what happened to her husband. Witnesses say three men in civilian clothes stopped him, not far from his house in Vanuniya in central Sri Lanka. They handcuffed him, shoved in a plain white van and sped away. That was a year and a half ago. He has not been heard from since.

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[AP]

Residents in Sri Lanka’s tense eastern city of Batticaloa and surrounding towns go to the polls Monday in a vote the government says is key to restoring order in the area, which troops recaptured months ago following more than a decade of rule by the Tamil Tiger rebels.

But human rights groups say the government is irresponsibly rushing ahead with the city and village council elections to show that its rule has brought democracy to the long-troubled east. They fear that violence and intimidation will taint the results.

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[BBC]

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence is controlling a number of armed groups in the east says the leader of the opposition Ranil Wickremasinghe . Opposition leader Wickremasinghe told this at a media briefing on Wednesday summoned to outline a proposed National Consultation by the Jathika Sabha which comprises of the United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (M). Wickremasinghe further said that Tamil Tigers are still in the east while break away Pilliayan group, EPDP, and a Muslim group mobilised by the government are in operation.

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[BBC]

The United States does not believe that free & fair elections can be held in Batticaloa if one party is allowed to bear arms says the US Ambassador for Sri Lanka, Robert O Blake. If one party is allowed arms and threaten and intimidate other parties and other contestants free and fair elections can not be held, said the US Ambassador addressing a public function held in Batticaloa on Wednesday. The US Ambassador said,” Unchecked illegal paramilitary activity also discourages the prime investment that is badly needed to help the reconstruction process in the east”.

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