Sri Lankan troops have completed clearing mines from all areas needed for re-settlement and farming in the island's former war zone, the military said Thursday, nearly four years after crushing Tamil rebels. The military said it had removed nearly a million unexploded ordnances, including anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines and improvised explosive devices, from the northern and eastern regions where the rebels fought for independence.

Sri Lanka has detained an opposition Muslim political leader for 90 days under a tough anti-terrorism law, in what a leader of the minority community Monday described as the latest attack against them. Azath Sally, 49, the former deputy mayor of Colombo and leader of the Muslim National Unity Alliance, was being held under a 90-day detention order, police spokesman Buddhika Siriwardena said. "The charges are under the Prevention of Terrorism Act," Siriwardena said, without elaborating.

Amnesty International accused Sri Lanka on Tuesday of instilling a climate of fear by stepping up repression, adding its voice to calls for the Commonwealth not to hold its next summit in Colombo. In a new 78-page report, the London-based watchdog said President Mahinda Rajapakse's government -- already facing UN censure over its rights record -- was strengthening its grip on power by clamping down on any show of dissent. "Violent repression of dissent and the consolidation of political power go hand in hand in Sri Lanka," said Polly Truscott, AI's deputy regional director.

Australia has vowed not to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka over allegations of human rights violations, despite mounting calls not to attend. Foreign Minister Bob Carr said it would be counter-productive to skip the summit in the Sri Lankan city of Hambantota in November. "Any suggestion of a boycott would be counter-productive. It would simply isolate the country and render it defiant of international opinion," he told ABC television late Friday.