Kunduz faces tough resurrection after brief Taliban takeover

Afghan National Police on duty at the central square in Kunduz City on Tuesday. The square became a symbolic focal point during fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces in recent weeks. (Andrew Quilty/For The Washington Post)

Kunduz citizens enter the governor's offices on Tuesday to gain an audience with Hamdullah Danishi, his staff or provincial councillors who also share the space. (Andrew Quilty/For The Washington Post)

By Sudarsan Raghavan-October 21

KUNDUZ, AFGHANISTAN — There were no computers, no projectors, no microscopes and no cameras inside the classrooms of Kunduz University. Outside, the school’s tractor and jeep were gone. Taliban fighters had stolen them all, fleeing with refrigerators and even doors ripped from their hinges.

“We worked hard for 13 years to collect all this equipment,” said Abdul Quduz Zarifi, the university’s president, seated near a classroom wall pierced with bullet holes. “All was gone in one week.”

Kunduz Faces Tough Resurrection After Brief Taliban Takeover by Thavam Ratna

US forces rescue Kurdish hostages facing 'imminent execution' by Isis

• Operation led to first American combat death in Iraq since 2011
• About 70 hostages freed from makeshift prison in Hawija area
• 
• A senior commander of the Kurdish peshmerga forces confirmed an operation had taken place but provided no further information. Photograph: Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images
• Martin Chulov and Fazel Hawramy in Erbil-Thursday 22 October 2015 
• Nearly 70 hostages facing “imminent mass execution” have been rescued from anIslamic State jail in a raid by Kurdish troops and US special forces in northern Iraq, according to US and Kurdish officials.
• The operation on Thursday also led to the first American combat death in Iraqsince 2011.
• The pre-dawn raid targeted a school near the northern town of Hawija that was believed to have been used as a base by senior military commanders from the group. There were unconfirmed reports that one of Isis’s most senior leaders, Nema Arbid Nayef al-Jabouri, was one of the targets of the raid.
  Jabouri, also known as Abu Fatima was not present when US, Kurdish and Iraqi troops descended on the small village of Fedeekha east of the town, Iraqi officials said.
  But commandos freed dozens of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who were being held prisoner at the school after being captured by Isis earlier this year. 
  The Pentagon said the operation had been planned and launched at the urging of Kurdish officials after they received reports that the hostages “faced imminent mass execution”, the Pentagon said. 
  Locals near Hawija said the special forces troops arrived in Chinook helicopters, which landed at around 4am – about an hour after roads to the area had been bombed by coalition fighter jets.
  One US soldier was wounded and subsequently died after coming under fire from the Isis compound, the Pentagon said. Four Iraqi troops were also wounded.
  An Iraqi official told the Guardian that the Hawija raid had been launched after intelligence had pinpointed Jabouri’s location. Kurdish officials said they had uncovered specific information about the prisoners’ whereabouts and the fact that they were in immediate danger.
• “They believed there were up to 20 Isis commanders there,” the officials said. “They also knew the prisoners faced a big risk.
  In a statement, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said 69 prisoners had been freed, but said that “an initial examination showed there are no Kurds among the rescued hostages.” There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy with other accounts of the raid.
  The raid is believed to be the first to be launched inside Iraq since US troops returned to the country to tackle Isis, which rampaged through northern and western Iraq from June last year.
  It is only the second to have taken place in the 14 months since then; in May, a US special forces operation in neighbouring Syria killed a senior Isis official responsible for oil trade, and captured his wife.
  Iraqi officials said Thursday’s operation was US led and supported by its own troops, who after more than a year of setbacks had in recent weeks begun to claw back losses in the centre of the country. The Baiji oil refinery, which Isis seized last summer, was returned to state control earlier on 17 October after a series of intensive battles over many months.
  In a statement, the Pentagon said that five members of Isis were captured and an undisclosed number of others killed. It claimed the raid had yielded a mass of intelligence information.
  Mohammed Mehdi, a spokesman for families of Kurdish prisoners held by Isis said: “Around 10 in the morning I was informed that there had been a raid and our American Brothers have freed around 70 peshmerga prisoners.” Mehdi’s son, Barzan was also a hostage. “I am very, very happy. I feel Barzan is already at home.”
  Additional reporting by Mais al-Baya’a and Shalaw Mohammed

Russia’s Winning the Electronic War

In Ukraine and Syria, Russian forces are using high-tech equipment to jam drones and block battlefield communications -- and forcing the U.S. to scramble to catch up.

BY PAUL MCLEARY-OCTOBER 21, 2015

It comes at different times, and in different forms. But as they have charted the war in southeast Ukraine over the past year, drones flown by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe have run into the same problem: Russian troops on the ground are jamming them into virtual blindness.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army units in Europe, hasdescribed Russian EW capabilities in Ukraine as “eye-watering.” Ronald Pontius, deputy to Army Cyber Command’s chief, Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, told a conference this month that “you can’t but come to the conclusion that we’re not making progress at the pace the threat demands.”

The electronic war was on display from the start of the Russian incursion into Crimea in the spring of 2014. Not long after Russian EW equipment began rolling into the region, Ukrainian troops began to find that their radios and phones were unusable for hours at a time. Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, an international conflict-monitoring group, has consistently reported that its drones watching the conflict in eastern Ukraine have been “subject to military-grade GPS jamming,” forcing monitors to scrub missions taking stock of the war below.

At the forefront of the push to get the U.S. Army up to speed is Col. Jeffrey Church, the Army’s chief of electronic warfare. But it won’t be easy. Dealing with falling budgets, a lack of EW equipment, and a force that is shrinking by tens of thousands of troops, Church says that he has managed to train only a few hundred soldiers — a fraction of the EW forces that are fielded by potential adversaries like Russia and China.

“They have companies, they have battalions, they have brigades that are dedicated to the electronic warfare mission,” Church said in an interview with Foreign Policy. Those units are deploying “with specific electronic warfare equipment, with specific electronic warfare chains of command,” he said.

Currently, 813 soldiers make up the Army’s EW mission, for which just over 1,000 positions have been authorized. And other Army units are guarding against Church’s attempts to peel away soldiers from their ranks to join his. The staffing squeeze is only expected to get worse as the overall Army contracts: At its peak during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army had about 570,000 soldiers; it is on pace to be down to 450,000 by the end of 2017. That number could slide even further, to 420,000 over the next several years, if Washington deadlocks over a long-term budget deal in the coming months.

At the moment, U.S. Army battalions typically assign two soldiers to the EW mission, and they will “have to do 24-hour operations” in battle against sophisticated enemies, Church said. That includes planning and coordinating with other battalion units as well as ensuring that their own jammers and advanced communications tools are working. “There’s too much to do for those guys in a battalion,” Church said. “So how do you maintain in a high-intensity environment against a peer enemy?”

A good amount of the EW equipment the Army bought over the past decade was paid for with supplemental wartime funding accounts. Church said that means it largely sits on shelves, awaiting repair and refurbishments, without regularly budgeted funding to keep it up to date.

In looking at Moscow’s capabilities, the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office assessed this year that Russia “does indeed possess a growing EW capability, and the political and military leadership understand the importance” of such warfare. “Their growing ability to blind or disrupt digital communications might help level the playing field when fighting against a superior conventional foe,” the assessment concluded.

Ukraine, which is equipped with easily jammed electronic systems, has proved to be a perfect place for Moscow to showcase its EW prowess. The Russian effort “is likely not aimed at Ukraine as much as it is aimed at NATO and more serious adversaries,” said Dmitry Gorenburg, a senior research scientist at CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization.

Last March, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work created an EW executive committee led by Frank Kendall, the undersecretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics. At the time, Work noted that the Defense Department had “lost focus on electronic warfare at the programmatic and strategic level.”

Although the Army is running a number of studies to quickly update and better integrate EW capability, none will be completed soon. In the meantime, Church said, soldiers must start training for new kinds of wars — namely, those that will increasingly depend on the kinds of sophisticated electromagnetic weapons that are becoming a mainstay for America’s most powerful conventional adversaries.

“We need to start challenging ourselves a little bit more,” Church said. “We should train as we anticipate we will fight.… It’s [currently] done very little.”

Photo credit: U.S. Army/Spc. Joshua Edwards

Why is Hillary Clinton being quizzed again over Benghazi?

Democratic presidential nomination front runner Hillary Clinton is due to give evidence to Congress over the 2012 attack on the US embassy in Benghazi for the second time. But why now?

THURSDAY 22 OCTOBER 2015
The attacks resulted in the deaths of the ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans: Sean Smith; Glen Doherty; and Tyrone Woods. The current congressional inquiry into the raids - and America's preparedness for them - is the eighth. And Thursday's session will mark the second time Hillary Clinton has been called before Congress to testify.

Why is Hillary Clinton Being Quizzed Again Over Benghazi by Thavam Ratna

‘One Nightmare for Another:’ Rohingya Tell of Horrors at Sea After Escaping Myanmar

Posted By: admin

- October 22, 2015

Rohingya refugees and migrants who fled Myanmar earlier this year “traded one nightmare for another,” having endured brutal conditions at sea, and were tortured and killed if ransom money was not paid to their traffickers, according to a damning new report from Amnesty International.

Many men, women and children belonging to the Rohingya Muslim minority group were beaten or killed after escaping Myanmar earlier this year, where they are denied basic human rights, including the right to vote and become citizens. Amnesty interviewed more than 100 Rohingya, including children, who were among the 1,500 people aboard five boats that landed in Aceh, Indonesia, in May.

Amnesty said in the report that it considers most Rohingya outside of Myanmar refugees, “given the scale and severity of the human rights violations” in the country. Myanmar’s government refers to the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya as “Bengalis”—implying they are migrants from Bangladesh living in the country illegally. Rohingya have been forcibly displaced from their homes by Myanmar’s military over the past several decades, sending tens of thousands to live in neighboring Bangladesh, and have been routinely attacked by Buddhist mobs, Amnesty said. A particularly severe bout of violence erupted following the alleged 2012 rape of an ethnic Burmese woman by three Muslim men and forced 125,000 Rohingya into internally displaced people camps.

“The daily physical abuse faced by Rohingya who were trapped on boats in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea is almost too horrific to put into words,” Anna Shea, refugee researcher at Amnesty International, said in a statement. “They had escaped Myanmar, but had only traded one nightmare for another. Even children were not spared these abuses.”

The International Organization for Migration said as many as 8,000 Rohingya were trapped at sea in May. Many were stranded for weeks or months at a time after the smugglers abandoned the boats. The U.N. says 370 people died in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea between January and June, but Amnesty disputes that number, believing it to be much higher, perhaps into the thousands.

Many Rohingya, interviewed by Amnesty, said they were beaten for months on board the boats, and the abuse did not stop until their families paid ransom money, typically 7,500 Malaysian ringgit ($1,700), to their traffickers. In one case, a father was called and forced to listen to his daughter’s screaming and crying on the phone as she was beaten. Being shot or thrown overboard were punishments for failing to pay ransom. Others died from disease or lack of water.

“They threw us in the sea. We had to swim for hours—if we tried to hold on to the ship, they would beat us,” a Rohingya boy told Amnesty. “When we were nearly drowned, they would take us back on the ship and beat us.”

Conditions on the ships were disgusting and overcrowded, with just two toilets available for 600 passengers on one vessel and no access to showers, according to witnesses. Those on board all the boats, including a pregnant woman, were given miniscule amounts of food, such as a small amount of rice and half a glass of water, which was expected to sustain them for a day.

October marks the beginning of a new post-monsoon sailing season that could see an influx of thousands taking to the seas to escape persecution, violence and poverty, as well as being trafficked for work. Amnesty is urging Southeast Asian governments, particularly Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, to strengthen their anti-trafficking and smuggling laws.  

“There is a serious risk of another human rights crisis at sea in late 2015,” Amnesty said in the report.

Japan offers India soft loan for $15 billion bullet train in edge over China

Parked passengers trains are seen at a railway station in Mumbai, India, October 22, 2015.

BY SANJEEV MIGLANI-Thu Oct 22, 2015

Japan has offered to finance India's first bullet train, estimated to cost $15 billion, at an interest rate of less than 1 percent, officials said, stealing a march on China, which is bidding for other projects on the world's fourth-largest network.

Tokyo was picked to assess the feasibility of building the 505-kilometre corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, and concluded it would be technically and financially viable.

The project to build and supply the route will be put out to tender, but offering finance makes Japan the clear frontrunner.

Last month China won the contract to assess the feasibility of a high-speed train between Delhi and Mumbai, a 1,200-km route estimated to cost twice as much. No loan has yet been offered.

Japan's decision to give virtually free finance for Modi's pet programme is part of its broader push back against China's involvement in infrastructure development in South Asia over the past several years.

"There are several (players) offering the high-speed technology. But technology and funding together, we only have one offer. That is the Japanese," said A. K. Mital, the chairman of the Indian Railway Board, which manages the network.

The two projects are part of a 'Diamond Qaudrilateral' of high speed trains over 10,000 km of track that India wants to set up connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Japan has offered to meet 80 percent of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad project cost, on condition that India buys 30 percent of equipment including the coaches and locomotives from Japanese firms, officials said.

Japan's International Cooperation Agency, which led the feasibility survey, said the journey time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad would be cut to two hours from seven. The route will require 11 new tunnels including one undersea near Mumbai.

"What complicates the process is Japanese linking funding to use of their technology. There must be tech transfer," said Mital.

RICKETY RAIL

JICA declined to comment on the details of its offer. "The report has already been handed over to India, and the Indian government is now in the process of making a consideration," a spokeswoman said.

Toshihiro Yamakoshi, counsellor in the economic section of the Japanese embassy, said Japanese companies were keen to collaborate with their Indian counterparts on the rail project as part of Modi's Make-in-India programme. He said it was too early to provide details of the cooperation.

Tokyo's push in India comes just weeks after it lost out to China on the contract to build Indonesia's first fast-train link.

Beijing offered $5 billion in loans without asking for guarantees, an Indonesian official said, ending a months-long battle to build the line linking Jakarta with the textile hub of Bandung.

Japan's NHK broadcaster quoted Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii as saying that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had instructed him to step up exports of transport systems to India and Southeast Asia.

"It is very regrettable that a high-speed railway project in Indonesia was awarded to China," he said.

China won the Delhi-Mumbai survey after securing clearance from Indian security agencies long worried about China's involvement in Indian infrastructure.

The two neighbours fought a war in 1962 over a border dispute that remains unresolved, though trade between them is booming.

India's cabinet will take a decision on the Japanese proposal over the next few weeks, an Indian railway official said. He said there were lingering concerns about whether the billions of dollars required for high-speed rail might be more usefully spent in modernising the railway system.

"There is a lot of money involved in this. The different departments are weighing the implications. Should we be committing all our resources to a single high-speed line," the railway official said on condition of anonymity."

"The railways have not attempted anything as big as this before in terms of costs," the official said.

India's rickety state-controlled rail system, which moves 23 million people a day, has a poor safety record and is in desperate need of funds to modernise it.

The average speed of trains is 54km/hour, and rail experts have argued that the priority ought to be to improve the speed and safety on existing trains and routes.

(Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes in DELHI; Kiyoshi Takenaka in TOKYO and Brenda Goh in BEIJING; Editing by Will Waterman)

Haze crisis from Indonesian fires could be worst ever for Southeast Asia

Hazy Singapore, taken on September 24, 2015. Pic: Charles Collier (Flickr CC)

By Graham Land Oct 22, 2015

As another “Hazepocalypse” plagues Southeast Asia, the people and governments of Indonesia and neighboring countries are becoming increasingly desperate for a solution.

Haze Crisis From Indonesian Fires Could Be Worst Ever for Southeast Asia by Thavam Ratna

Diamonds Can Detect Cancer

Gem May Help Find Tumors at Earliest Stage, Study Shows

By Diane Wedner, Lifescript Health Writer-October 12, 2015

Diamonds, long considered a girl’s best friend, may be everyone’s, now that scientists say the gems help detect early-stage cancers. Read on for details of this exciting discovery...

Diamonds aren’t just fashion accessories for the well-heeled. 

The precious gem also can detect early-stage, cancerous tumors, according to results of a University of Sydney study. 

The Australian researchers invented a way to make synthetic diamonds light up inside a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, a beacon, as it were, for cancer cells. 

Related Quiz: What Really Causes Cancer? Myths vs. Facts

Diamonds don’t light up on their own during an MRI scan, so the scientists devised a way so that light from nanoscale, synthetic (and inexpensive) diamond particles can be visible inside the machine, attracting the cancer. One nanometer is equal to 1-billionth of a meter.

“We've magnetized the atoms within the nano-diamond, and this makes them light up on an MRI scan,” lead author and Ph.D. student Ewa Rej said in a statement. “The manipulated diamonds are then attached to specific chemicals that are known to target cancers.” 

Like a lighthouse

The diamonds are attached to cancer-detecting chemicals so the researchers can track them as they move through a patient’s body. Cancer draws the chemicals to the tumor site and the diamonds light up on the MRI scan. 

“Having those chemicals target certain types of cancers, bind to certain types of receptors, is something that's advanced,” lead researcher David Reilly, Ph.D., said in a statement. “What we've done is now develop that lighthouse to image those things in an MRI, thereby [allowing us to] actually see the cancers light up, without having to open somebody up.” 

The discovery will be especially helpful in detecting early-stage pancreatic and brain cancers, two of the deadliest cancers, before they become life-threatening, the scientists said. That allows patients to get earlier treatment, improving their survival chances. 

The next stage for the researchers is testing the technology in mice. It will take several more years before it can be used on humans, they said. 

Cause of Pararajasingham murder revealed 

Oct 21, 2015

The Criminal Investigating Department has able to disclose the cause for the murder of the former Batticaloa TNA parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham.

The allegations of the murder of MP Pararajasingham is targeted against a paramilitary group led by Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamoorthi Muralidaran and Pillayan alias Sivanesathurai Chandrakanth who broke from the LTTE. During the 2004 parliamentary election few candidates who supported Karuna and Pillayan were included in the TNA nominations list. However Joseph Pararajasingham was able to win the election from the Batticaloa district. Meantime Pillayan wsa forcing the TNA to give the MP post to defeated candidate Rajan Sathyamoorthi. During this time Karuna Amman was not in the country and the LTTE killed Rajan Sathyamoorthi for supporting the Karuna Pillayan faction. Following Pararajasingham, a close associate of Pillayan, P. Arinendran was in the nominations list. Following the killing of Joseph Pararajasingham on 24th December 2005 in Batticaloa, Arinendran was sworn in as a parliament MP.

Out of two people who were directly involved for this killing, one person is not living and the other person is missing. However it is revealed that the arms needed to carry out this murder have been supplied by an officer attached to the army intelligence.

Although the murder was committed amid the presence of the police and the security forces there was no retaliation exercised against the murderers.

Pillayan has been taken into custody and it is being revealed that the murder of the former TNA parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj too was committed by the Karuna Pillayan group. Last week the CID questioned Karuna Amman regarding this murder.

Sri Lankan judge says war crimes claims 'credible'

 20 October 2015

Allegations that Sri Lankan troops committed war crimes are "credible", a judge appointed by the island's former president has concluded in a report presented to parliament on Tuesday.

The findings mark the first time a domestic inquiry has said there is evidence the army committed war crimes, and are all the more remarkable given that the report was commissioned by Mahinda Rajapakse.

Sri Lanka's former strongman leader oversaw the final push against Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 before losing power in January, and has always fiercely denied his troops committed war crimes.

The findings mark the first time a domestic inquiry has said there is evidence the army committed war crimes, and are all the more remarkable given that the report was commissioned by Mahinda Rajapakse ©Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP/File)

He ordered the inquiry in 2013 in a bid to deflect mounting international censure, and the new government made the findings public in line with a promise to the UN Human Rights Council last month.

A long-awaited report from the United Nations human rights office last month laid bare horrific wartime atrocities committed by both the army and the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the bitter 37-year war.

"There are credible allegations which, if proved to the required standard, may show that some members of the armed forces committed acts during the final phase of the war that amounted to war crimes giving rise to individual criminal responsibility," said the 178-page report presented to parliament on Tuesday.

The government of Rajapakse's successor, Maithripala Sirisena, has vowed to punish war criminals and set up a truth commission and a reparations office to help heal the wounds left by the conflict.

But it has resisted pressure to allow a foreign inquiry, which many members of the island's Sinhalese majority consider an infringement of sovereignty.

The latest inquiry was overseen by retired judge Maxwell Paranagama and examined claims in a documentary broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 that purportedly showed Sri Lankan soldiers executing Tamil prisoners.

- Killing fields -

At the time Sri Lanka's military dismissed the documentary, "No Fire Zone: Sri Lanka Killing Fields", as a fabrication.

But Paranagama concluded there was evidence to suggest the footage -- showing prisoners stripped naked and blindfolded, their arms tied behind their backs, being shot dead by mocking soldiers -- was genuine.

"The Commission is of the view that the material shown in Channel 4 - shorn of its theatrical and dramatic presentation and of the occasionally extravagant language used -- does show, however, that there was material enough to justify a judge-led investigation," the Paranagama commission said.

It said another high-profile case involving the execution of the top Tamil Tiger political leadership on or about May 18, 2009 should also be investigated by an independent judicial inquiry despite the then-government denying the killings.

The head of the Tigers' political wing, B. Nadesan, and another top rebel official, S. Puleedevan, were among a large group of Tiger activists shot dead as government forces wiped out the rebel group.

The commission wanted an independent judicial inquiry into the "white flag" case, where rebels were asked to surrender, but were shot dead despite assurances to the international community that they would be safe.

It recommended the government set up an internationally backed judicial inquiry to ensure accountability, in line with last month's Human Rights Council resolution.

"In the event Sri Lanka were to set up a purely domestic tribunal, it is the view of the commission that foreign observers should be encouraged," the report states.

It also said the number of civilians killed during the final stages of the war may be lower than the figure of 40,000 used by the UN and others, saying there was no evidence to suggest "genocide".

Tamils Abducted In Colombo Ended Up At Trinco Navy Camp: CID Tells Courts

October 21, 2015

The CID told courts today that 11 persons, mainly Tamil youth abducted by unidentified groups in Colombo and suburbs in 2008 – 2009, had been detained at the Trincomalee Navy camp.

A lawyer appearing for the family members of some of the missing persons told courts that they were yet to know the fate of their loved ones and as a result the family members were suffering from severe trauma.

The Magistrate taking into considerations the submissions by the lawyer ordered the police to speed up the investigations and bring it to a closure as soon as possible.

The CID in response said their detectives were conducting further investigations to arrest those responsible.

In this case, the CID has named navy lieutenant commander Sampath Munasinghe, the personal bodyguard of the former Navy commander retired Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda as the main suspect.

Meanwhile according to the Police, the preliminary inquiries into the abductions have revealed that Lieutenant Commander Sampath Munasinghe, who was a bodyguard of the former Navy Commander, was connected to the 11 abductions in Colombo during that time period.

Earlier CID informed courts that a group accompanied by Munasinghe abducted five youths in Dehiwela area in 2009. They have also demanded a ransom of Rs. 10 million from the relatives of the abducted youths.

The police have found the National Identity Cards of four missing youth and passports from Munasinghe’s room. The CID told that the men had been detained at underground cells at the Colombo and Trincomalee Navy camps.                                                                   Read More

Paranagama Commission rejects Darusman findings

Udalagama Commission faults police over probe into killing of aid workers

By Saman Indrajith-October 20, 2015

The Commission of Inquiry that probed Abductions and Disappearances (better known as the Maxwell Paranagama Commission) has found that it was the LTTE which killed majority of Tamil civilians during the last 12 hours of the final stage of the war, according to the commission report tabled in Parliament yesterday.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tabled the Maxwell Paranagama Commission report and the Udalagama Commission report along with the UNHRC report on alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

Paranagama Commission Rejects Darusman Findings Udalagama Commission Faults Police Over Probe Into Killing... by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lanka judge says war crimes claims are 'credible'

Many Tamils are still homeless after the war - countless others are missing

21 October 2015

A government-appointed Sri Lankan judge says allegations the army committed war crimes during the long conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels are "credible".

He was leading the first government inquiry into the atrocities, one month after the UN released its own findings.

President Maithripala Sirisena has pledged a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate further but resists calls for a foreign inquiry.

The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead.

The UK's Channel 4 and the UN have documented numerous atrocitiescommitted during the war, with one investigation saying up to 40,000 people may have been in killed in the final five months alone.

Others suggest the number of deaths could be even higher.

'White Flag' case

The government tabled retired judge Maxwell Paranagama's finding in a report to parliament on Tuesday.

The judge said there were "credible allegations which... may show that some members of the armed forces committed acts during the final phase of the war that amounted to war crimes giving rise to individual criminal responsibility".

He went to say there was evidence to suggest that footage obtained by the Channel 4 documentary No Fire Zone - showing prisoners naked, blindfolded, with arms tied and shot dead by soldiers - was genuine.

Sri Lanka's military at the time had dismissed the documentary as a fabrication.

The Paranagama commission also said a case involving the killing of the top Tamil Tiger political leadership in May 2009 - known as the "White Flag" case - should be investigated.

He called on the government to set up an internationally-backed judicial inquiry, which was also recommended in the UN report in September.

Both the army and Tamil Tiger rebels are accused of committing war crimes at the end of the war in 2009

The first government-led inquiry into the allegations was commissioned in 2013 by then-President Mahinda Rajapakse, who oversaw the final push against the rebels in 2009.

Mr Rajapaksa has always denied his troops committed war crimes, and resisted international inquiries.

The UN's long-awaited report accused both sides of atrocities, especially during the final stages of the war in 2009.

Its main findings include:

• numerous unlawful killings between 2002 and 2011, allegedly by both sides
• enforced disappearances affecting tens of thousands over decades
• the "brutal use of torture" by security forces, in particular during the immediate aftermath of the conflict
• extensive sexual violence against detainees by the security forces "with men as likely to be victims as women"
• forced recruitment of adults and children by the rebels, particularly towards the end of the conflict

The final months of the war saw hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians trapped in territory held by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in the north-east.

While government forces were accused of indiscriminate shelling leading to massive casualties, the Tamil Tiger rebels were alleged to have used civilians as human shields and shot people trying to escape.

Allegations persist to this day that the army killed rebel leaders and others after they surrendered or were captured - and the UN admitted in 2012 that it could and should have done more to protect civilians.

As well as the thousands of Tamils who died in the final battles near Mullaitivu, many others are still missing.