Colombo: Tamil Tiger Leader Killed in Ambush

Firecrackers exploded around Colombo on Monday as Sri Lankans celebrated what they hoped would be the end to a civil war that has plagued the nation since 1983. At 1:40PM in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s government radio made the official announcement that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the elusive leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , was killed early this morning by special forces in the island’s northern Karayamullavaikkal area.

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Place of ‘miracle’ for Afghanistan’s amputees

Award-winning photojournalist James Nachtwey was one of five photographers commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to capture images of life in some of the world’s most troubled countries. The project took him to the ICRC Orthopedic Center in Kabul, Afghanistan, a place he describes as “a kind of miracle,” and a refuge from the harsh reality of life in the country’s war-torn capital. More than 40,000 patients have been treated at the center since it opened in 1988, including 30,000 amputees

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Red Cross: Thousands still trapped in Sri Lanka

Thousands of civilians remain trapped and at risk in a small area of the conflict zone along the northeastern Sri Lankan coast, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday. The civilians include women, children, and elderly, and many are wounded and sick, the ICRC said in a statement.

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An Anti-Iranian Enclave in Iraq Fights to Stay

The dozens of middle-aged Iranians standing in six neat, gender-segregated rows stare straight ahead from behind the chain-link fence close to the entrance of Camp Ashraf, some 40 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala near the Iranian border. “Ashraf is our home, Ashraf is our home,” they robotically chant in Iranian-accented Arabic, as they jab their right fists into the air in unison. Some of the women, who are all dressed in pantsuits with long jackets and colorful headscarves tied under the chin, carry placards in Persian

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