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Enter Karuna, amidst blasts and killings in the East
Two years after V.Muralitharan alias Karuna broke away from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the faction’s political front has come into the open by launching its first political office in the east, this week.

On Tuesday afternoon, Govinthan Road in Batticaloa town was hurriedly placed under a heavy security cover with soldiers and police providing security for the opening ceremony of the new office of the ‘Thamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (Tamil Eelam People’s Liberation Tigers) or the Karuna group.

The name is similar to what the LTTE stands for, and so would be some of the objectives of the group as it plans to undertake some functions carried out by the LTTE political offices in the government-controlled areas.The group’s flag was hoisted by Markkan, the Batticaloa district military wing leader in the presence of a handful of invitees who were present. The pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members of Parliament from the district were invited, but none of them turned up.

Markkan explaining the objectives of setting up the office said their main intention was to ‘protect the citizens’ of the area and safeguard their culture and economy. He called on the people to call over with their complaints.
He said within the next three months the party will be registered with the Elections Commissioner as they hoped to contest future elections.
He went on to say that the security provided by the forces to their office and their cadres was similar to what the LTTE cadres were being provided when they moved in government-controlled areas.

The party expects to explain its political activities to the people in the next few weeks, posing a challenge to the LTTE who they say has delayed the party’s plans to reopen its political offices in the government controlled areas.
The Karuna group which has hitherto been accused of carrying out attacks on the LTTE and accused of having links with the security forces will now be officially provided a guard by the security forces and police .

The group is reported to have already extended its activities in the Trincomalee district and carried out attacks against rival LTTE cadres.
As the Karuna group moved into the political scene, the country was rocked by a series of incidents in the north and east, including claymore mine attacks, abductions, killings and grenade attacks.

Among them the most serious was Wednesday’s bicycle bomb explosion in Trincomalee. The probe on the incident has now been taken over by the CID. They are investigating reports that people at the Trincomalee vegetable market-where the explosion occurred- had attempted to open an unattended parcel triggering off the explosion.

The blast occured at 3.50 p.m. close to the main gate of the market on the Central Road. The market was a hive of activity with people from all communities getting ready to celebrate the National New Year. Among the victims were seven Sinhalese, six Tamils and two Muslims.

As investigations into the blast proceed, the government’s priority has been the restoration of normality. Among those most affected has been the business community since more than 20 shops were burnt down and others looted.

Police Chief Chandra Fernando who visited the area two hours after the incident on Thursday, met with the business community to discuss ways of restoring normality and providing security for them to carry on with their daily business.

The IGP assured the affected business community that he would submit a report to the Government in a day or two about the damage, enabling the victims to obtain compensation .

One of the main complaints of the traders was that the police did not act promptly after the bomb explosion, which gave ample time for mobs to burn and loot some of the shops.

Mr. Fernando said he had opened a special desk in the Trincomalee police headquarters to entertain complaints from the traders whose shops had been burned or looted.

R.Rajarammohan, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Trincomalee District (CCITD), led the affected business community during the discussion. Mr.Rajarammohan told the IGP since the communal riots of 1983, whenever there was violence in town business establishments were attacked.
Mr.Rajarammohan 's business establishment with several vehicles including a car had been burnt down during Wednesday’s incident, CCITD sources said.

Mr.K.Arumugam, Manager of the HNB main branch in Trincomalee complained that the bank branch had suffered heavy damage too. Motorbikes and other vehicles of the staff had been damaged. He said the Police did not arrive on the scene for over an hour, even after the special alarm connected to the police station was switched on. He charged that the damage could have been averted if the police had arrived on time.

The IGP has blamed the LTTE for the bomb attack . He said on examining the ball bearings and pellets found at the site it was obvious that the LTTE was behind the attack.

Responding to charges by traders, that the police had not acted promptly, he said the security forces and police had taken all steps to contain the violence but things had gone beyond their control and some unfortunate incidents had occurred.

Police are also investigating complaints about retaliatory killings after the explosion. In one of the incidents three bodies of civilians were reportedly found in the Linganagar area and all of them had cut injuries.
A soldier was among those killed in the blast which initially claimed five lives. Later the death toll rose to 11. By yesterday the death toll by the blast and other related incidents had risen to 19.

As details of the incident started unfolding President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered Minister of Industries, Rohitha Bogollagama and north central province chief minister, Berty Premalal Dissanayake and the IGP to rush to the scene.
The government charged the LTTE for setting off the explosion and said that its aim was to draw a backlash on the Tamil community and cripple the peace talks.

SLMM chief Ulf Henricsson was on the scene to get a first hand account of the incidents. The incident was the first he witnessed after taking over office early this month.

Earlier in the day he was in Kilinochchi awaiting an appointment with the LTTE political wing leader, S.P.Thamilselvan but he had to be satisfied with a meeting with the head of the LTTE peace Secretariat, S.Pulithevan.
The one hour meeting with Pulithevan was mainly to discuss the logistics arrangements about the preparations for the peace talks in Geneva.
At Trincomalee when the SLMM chief was meeting with senior police officers for a briefing about the security situation in the aftermath of the blast he received a call from the LTTE in the Wanni to call over for an urgent meeting with Thamilselvan on Thursday morning. The meeting was related to the postponement of the talks in Geneva.

The situation in Trincomalee has been simmering since the slaying of Vanniasingham Vigneswaran, the President of the Trincomalee District Tamil People’s Forum, a front organization of the LTTE, earlier this month.
Vigneswaran played a prominent role during the dispute over the putting up of a Buddhist statue in the Trincomalee bus stand last year. He took a tough stand that the statue should be removed.

He had also been involved in carrying out protest campaigns in Trincomalee against the security forces and other Tamil groups. The hartal campaigns had been spearheaded by him.

He was to fill the vacancy in parliament following the death of Joseph Pararajasingham on Christams day, but a dispute that he was born in the north had reportedly delayed the appointment.

The LTTE’s close links to Vigneswaran was openly displayed when they directed that his body be brought to the LTTE controlled Sampoor area in Trincomalee and therafter to LTTE controlled Kilinochchi to pay their last respects.

A couple of hours before his burial, a convoy of Navy buses which left Trincomalee carrying sailors heading for the New Year Holiday, were targeted at Thampalagama, 98th mile post. The clyamore mine fixed onto a tree was triggered off as the second bus in the convoy was passing it.

Eleven persons – 10 sailors and a civilian driver were killed instantly while nine others were injured. The bus before running off the road collided with a van carrying a British national and a Sri Lankan born British passport holder.
On Wednesday night three prominent businessmen were abducted from their houses, in Chavakachcheri and their bullet riddled bodies were found dumped in three different areas. A retired Police constable was also abducted and killed in the same area the previous day. The LTTE as well as rival groups are believed to be involved in these tit-for tat killings.

The abductions took place close to the location where five soldiers and two local aid workers were killed in a claymore explosion. The death toll of soldiers increased to six when one of them succumbed to his injuries in Colombo on Wednesday.

In Vavuniya, in an LTTE controlled area, two more civilians were caught in a claymore mine blast and killed while they were travelling by a tractor on Thursday while on the same day in Vakaneri a LTTE cadre was killed in an ambush by the Karuna group.

In Kalmunai a hand grenade was lobbed at a group of policemen injuring three of them on the same day. On the night before, an army intelligence officer and his assistant were shot while they were riding a motor cycle. One of them a Major, was transferred to Colombo for treatment.

More incidents were reported with the latest from Vavuniya when a claymore mine was set off killing four persons and injuring 10 others yesterday.
As the killing spree continues in the north and east and the peace talks further delayed hopes of civilians keep further fading about the prospects of peace.

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