The death toll in the first two days of clashes had stood at 79, including 36 rebels killed by government troops in the north on Sunday.

Those clashes were on the Jaffna peninsula, the northern districts of Vavuniya and Polonnaruwa and the northwestern district of Mannar, and killed 75 rebels and four soldiers, the military said. More... Discuss this story Published: Mon Jan 28 15:48:36 EST 2008

The 16 bodies discovered from the two mass graves lie in a morgue in Anuradhapura's main hospital. Desperate people whose loved ones have disappeared pay frantic visits to the hospital to identify the highly decomposed bodies. Living a life without knowing what happened to a father, a son or a brother after they went missing is hell. One has to experience the trauma to know how it feels. Has he been killed and buried in a mass grave or is he being tortured somewhere?

The Kebethigollawa mass graves are one horrid story in Sri Lanka's post-independence history, which has witnessed tens of thousands of extra-judicial killings. Certainly, it is not a great feat to celebrate as we mark the 60th Independence Day on February 4. Since the 1971 insurrection led by ideologically inspired young and educated Marxists, extra-judicial killings have become a tested-and-proved means of crushing any insurgency. More... Discuss this story Published: Mon Jan 28 22:10:30 EST 2008

Intervening in the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address, he said that on coming to know that Mr Vaiko had made a clandestine visit to Vavuniya, Mr Gandhi had spent a full sleepless night to ensure the safe return of the MDMK leader.

''If the MDMK leader is alive today, it is because of the efforts taken by Mr Rajiv Gandhi,'' he said.

Mr Alphonse said that when the issue was raised in Parliament, Mr Gandhi had magnanimously stated that he was more worried about the safe return of Mr Vaiko than about the manner in which he had gone to Sri Lanka. More... Discuss this story Published: Mon Jan 28 22:11:48 EST 2008