Word: lankans
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka--A car bomb exploded yesterday at the crowded main bus terminal in the heart of the Sri Lankan capital, and officials said as many as 150 people were killed and more than 200 were injured...
Last July the Sri Lankan government and the island's militant minority, known as the Tamils, agreed to call a truce to their bloody three-year-old civil war. But the agreement quickly broke down, and hundreds have died in renewed fighting over the past ten weeks. Last week an umbrella group representing the four Tamil guerrilla factions agreed to a new cease-fire that could lead to fresh talks on Tamil demands for self-rule...
...them Hindu, complain of persecution at the hands of the country's 12 million Sinhalese, who are predominantly Buddhist. The Tamils' main hope for the future now rests with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who helped arrange the latest cease-fire. Tamil leaders are pressing Gandhi to persuade Sri Lankan President Junius Jayewardene to grant them substantial autonomy, and thus put an end to the bloody conflict...
...Bangladesh's next-door neighbors, India, also was quick to announce its support. After committing $10 million, along with medical personnel and food, to the stricken land, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi scheduled a visit to Bangladesh to express his sympathy and to tour the ravaged areas. Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene, who was due to hold talks with Gandhi, promised to come too, in a show of "South Asian solidarity...
...tree under which Buddha found enlightenment, the guerrillas seemed almost eager to provoke retaliation. It did not take long. In the bloodiest strike, assailants boarded a ferry off the northern coast of Sri Lanka, near Jaffna, and hacked 39 Tamils to death with axes, swords and knives. The Sri Lankan navy has denied accusations that it was involved in the slaughter; the same day, police surprised Tamil rebels hiding in a cave in the Eastern province and killed 20 guerrillas...