COLOMBO: Intensifying their offensive to push the Tamil Tigers out of their last stretch of land, the Sri Lankan troops today killed at least 47 rebels, including two top commanders and captured a strategic area in Pudukudiyirippu, officials said today.Two top LTTE commanders, Gobith and Amuthab, who headed a special unit named after Prabhakaran's son "Charles Antony," were killed in fierce fighting in which troops wrested the village of Anandapuram, Defence Ministry sources said.The LTTE had been putting up a stiff resistance to prevent the Army from taking over the village which was its last road link for bringing in supplies and logistics.Police commanders attacked a group of Tigers in Sri Lanka's East killing 13 rebels. The battle in the forests near eastern Ampara district was fiercely fought for hours.Sources said that LTTE's explosive expert Paramanantha master was among the dead.Sri Lanka has driven out the Tigers from the eastern province, but officials said that pockets of Tiger resistance still remained.As the war between the government forces and the Tigers appears to be entering the last stages, more civilians trapped in the battle zone are coming over to the government-fixed IDP zones.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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