A Sri Lankan army soldier has been arrested on Wednesday over the kidnap and sexual abuse of a Tamil schoolgirl in Jaffna, two weeks after her disappearance.

The parents of the 16 year old girl had reported her as missing two weeks ago, when they registered her disappearance with Chavakachcheri police.

After the police launched search operations, the girl was eventually found held at a home belonging to a Sri Lankan soldier in Maravanpulavu. Police report that she had been sexually abused.

Sri Lankan security forces have stepped up their presence in Jaffna following the recovery of a cache of explosives, including an apparent suicide bomber vest on Tuesday evening.

The discovery, made in the village of Maravanpulavu, was made following an anonymous tip off regarding illegal drug storage at the property, claimed Sri Lankan police.

A 31 year old man who lived in the property, named as Edward Jude Sebastian, was arrested by Kilinochchi police the following day, after he fled from Jaffna. He is currently being interrogated by Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Department (TID), who have reported him to be a former LTTE cadre.

His father and wife, who also lived at the house in Jaffna, have also been detained and are currently being questioned.

Sri Lankan police claimed to have recovered a suicide bomber jacket alongside 12 kg of explosives, which was hidden and wrapped in a Sinhala language newspaper. They also recovered 4 claymore mines, over 100 9mm bullets and 5 different mobile phone sim cards.

The incident sparked outrage in the South, with former Sri Lankan foreign minister G L Peiris saying this “should not be considered as an isolated incident”.

UPDATED: 1455 GMT

A group of Tamil students have been hospitalised following an attack by a mob of Sinhala students at the Uva Wellawassa University on Wednesday, as racial tension continued to flare up across the campus.

The attack, which was reportedly unprovoked, took place just outside the canteen at the university, which is situated in the Sinhala south. The Tamil students, who are in their second year of study, had been sat watching the cricket world cup with their colleagues. As they walked out of the canteen, they were all assaulted. Several third and fourth year Tamils students who attempted to intervene were also injured in the attack. Seven students have since been admitted into Badulla hospital due to the extent of their injuries.

When asked to identify their attackers, the fear of further provocations prevented many of the Tamil students from speaking out. Despite this, reports have named second year Export Agriculture student Dhammika Prasad from Gampaha as one of the key ringleaders of the attack.

There is still an air of tension over the campus today, with the alleged attackers reportedly collecting the addresses of the Tamil students and continuing to shout anti-Tamil slurs at passers by.

There seems to be no immediate trigger for the incident, which has left Tamil students in the town in fear of venturing out into public. At the university though,  Tamil students report a history of animosity and tension at the campus.

The Sri Lankan president’s repeated refusal to allow international participation in an accountability mechanism calls into question his governments "sincerity and trustworthiness,” said Human Rights Watch’s Asia director.

Responding to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s repeated remarks that no foreign judges will be involved in an accountability mechanism for mass atrocities, Brad Adams told The Sunday Leader,

The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal said on Monday that while Sri Lanka is on a path to reconciliation, much remains to be done on justice and accountability.

Speaking on US policies and priorities for 2016 at the Center for New American Security , Ms Biswal said Sri Lanka is on a path to reconciliation.

"Sri Lanka, which is rebalancing its own foreign and economic policy as it emerges from its self-imposed isolation, will benefit from its strategic location as a maritime gateway to some of the largest markets in Asia [...],"

"[It] deserves special attention as it continues to consolidate democratic gains in the past two elections and put the country on a path to reconciliation. The United States was among the first to welcome these moves and offer our support and assistance. Both Secretary Kerry and Ambassador Power visited last year – and I myself visited four times in 2015 – and this year we launched our first-ever Partnership Dialogue,"

Could Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary (and brother of previous president Mahinda Rajapaksa), bring the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) together? Evidently a member of the country’s joint opposition has suggested that Rajapaksa be appointed to parliament, the implication being that this move would help to unify a political party that has remained divided since Maithripala Sirisena assumed the presidency in January 2015.

 Sri Lanka’s economic performance will continue to be constrained due to weak global demand and uncertainty of Sri Lanka’s policy in 2016 concluded the Asian Development Bank’s annual economic report.

The Asian Development Outlook 2016 (ADO) report found that fiscal reform to deal with the build up of excessive debt was much needed in Sri Lanka.

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has come under criticism for his defence of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his governments' close relationship with the Sri Lankan regime.

Mr Abbott wrote in an essay this week how he was “sure that the Sri Lankan president was pleased that Australia didn’t join the human rights lobby against the tough but probably unavoidable actions taken to end one of the world’s most vicious civil wars”.

The remarks triggered a spate of criticism, reports Guardian Australia.

Australian Tamil Congress national spokesperson Sam Pari said “it is disappointing that rather than upholding human rights, Abbott chose instead to please the Sri Lankan president who failed to protect and promote international human rights law and international humanitarian law”.

Human Rights Watch Australia director, Elaine Pearson, said his comments were “a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of victims of wartime atrocities and their families”.