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| CID
tracks Tiger link in suicide attack Strips of black cloth tied around their heads covered their eyes. Their legs were chained, apparently before they were shot, to prevent them from running away. One
of the Tiger guerrillas who alighted from the truck read out to
the growing number of onlookers an announcement in Tamil. A one
page statement, later distributed there, bore a Tiger emblem and
came from the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) for Batticaloa - Ampara districts. It was headlined "Death
sentence from Liberation Tigers." The duo, Balasunderam Sritharan (23) of Illuppaiadaichenai and Thillaiyampalam Sundararajan (24) of Pangudaveli, were among four who had been taken captive by the LTTE. They have been accused of collaborating with renegade eastern leader Karuna to carry out attacks. At the scene, a guerrilla said, the two dead men's bodies had been dumped at the same spot where they had detonated claymore mines to kill his colleagues. The spot is located on the road from Maha Oya to Chenkaladi in the Batticaloa district. He claimed that during interrogation they had admitted carrying out attacks on a military camp occupied by female cadres and an administrative office, both in the East. The guerrilla warned that the same fate would befall those helping the renegade group. He cautioned parents whose children had left the LTTE not to let their children join the renegade group. Those "dedicated to Tamil nationalism," he said, were welcome to join the LTTE whilst others who wanted to pursue studies could do so. Mr. Manoraj's press statement claimed that "a claymore mine, two hand grenades, one T 56 rifle, three magazines, a pistol, a hand phone and a holster" were identified as "ones used by the Army." However, an Army official dismissed any suggestions they were issued by them. "It is no secret they (LTTE) have many types of weapons that are in our inventory. That is not to say we have issued them. To claim we have done so is simply ridiculous," he said speaking on grounds of anonymity. "Whilst we have lost some weapons during confrontations, others have been smuggled in," he added. Based on the reported confessions by the two murdered Karuna wing cadres, on Friday the guerrillas shot dead Kunjithambi Sivarasa at his residence in Kallady. He was the Grama Sevaka for Karadiyanaru and is said to have helped the two carry out attacks. On Wednesday, at exactly 12.16 pm, a female suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to her body inside the Kollupitiya Police Station. It killed four policemen and wounded ten others. That was the time the fingers of the clock on the station wall stopped due to the blast. The news of the suicide attack, the first after the ceasefire of February 22, 2002, shocked several foreign governments. It caused concerns over the future of the peace process. If it made clearer the defence establishment was not ready to cope with a threat situation, the incident sent shock waves reeling down the country's trade and commerce sector. In the absence of any measures to assure the public they would be safe going about their day to day tasks, not to mention the worries of the international community, the writing is clearly on the wall for the UPFA Government - the uncertainties facing the security sector is now threatening the country's economy in many spheres. That is besides complicating the all important political issue - peace talks with the LTTE. That the UPFA Government has been neglecting these aspects, that they had no blueprint for an eventuality or any strategy to deal with day to day developments, has now begun to take a heavy toll. In the wake of mounting concerns world-wide over the suicide attack, the LTTE denied involvement and declared "we strongly condemn this act." A statement posted on their official Peace Secretariat website hinted strongly that it may be the work of the renegade Karuna faction. "It is well known that as a result of activities by armed groups, aimed at disrupting the peace efforts, our cadres and civilians are being killed in the east. We strongly believe that these groups are operating with the help of the Sri Lankan military intelligence unit and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces," the statement said. If the statement appeared in the website on Thursday (July 8), late that night, LTTE spokesman Daya Master was making hurried contact on the telephone from Kilinochchi with Tamil newspapers, particularly those in the Jaffna peninsula. He was making a fervent appeal to them not to publish their own statement on the official website. With the exception of one Tamil newspaper in Jaffna that had already gone to print, all others obliged. Why was such a request made? One LTTE source said the thought had occurred to the leadership only after the statement was issued. In suggesting that the renegade Karuna group had carried out the suicide attack, the LTTE was acknowledging they had cadres who would make "sacrifices to achieve martyrdom." To the Tamil public, the LTTE did not want to officially acknowledge or give credit to any others. It was only the LTTE cadres who made that "supreme sacrifice" for the Tamil cause and no others. But, officially to the UPFA Government, there was no iota of doubt left that the LTTE was behind the suicide attack. Working overnight Lionel Goonetilleke (DIG), Sisira Mendis (SSP - Director) and a team of top CID men had cracked the case. That includes Nandana Munasinghe, (SSP - Deputy Director), D.S.Y. Samaratunga (SSP) and D.R.L. Ranaweera (ASP). Beginning Wednesday afternoon and until the early hours of Thursday, the team grilled 29 year old Sathyaleela Selvakumar, the accomplice of the suicide bomber. The CID headquarters on the fourth floor of the New Secretariat building in Fort was a hive of activity. Even Shantha Wanaguru, SSP Jaffna, was on hand checking information the CID wanted verified on the telephone almost every hour. This time it was not the Inspectors and their team who were doing the probe. It was the CID top brass themselves. Inspectors and others were, however, deployed in the field to carry out raids. When Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) leader, Douglas Devananda, was a Cabinet Minister in the People's Alliance Government, he had helped Ms Selvakumar obtain appointment as a pre school teacher. She had worked closely with Mr. Devananda and his staff before finishing a limited tenure. A divorcee, she is the mother of two children, one ten and the other eight years old. Both her parents were retired teachers. She lived with them in Jaffna and was a student of a convent there. In April, this year, she had been approached by an LTTE cadre who identified himself as only "Kuna." She had accompanied him to Kilinochchi where she met the female suicide bomber. The name she gave was Thiyagarasa Jayarani (National Identity Card No: 786724848 V) from Vembadi Road, Manipay, Jaffna. SSP Wanaguru had checked it and found the address did not exist. CID detectives found the name too was false. In June, accompanied by the suicide bomber, she had visited Minister Devananda's office in Jaffna, with the suicide bomber. It has now come to light that on this occasion the suicide bomber had given a different name to that found in her National Identity Card. This card is also now known to be forged. The Visit was to allow her to identify the target. Last Sunday (June 27) she had arrived in Colombo from Jaffna and checked in at Nectar Lodge at Dam Street, in the immediate outskirts of Pettah. Later that day she had received a call on her mobile phone. The caller had asked her to come to the Galle Face Green and stay in front of a hoarding advertising Sri Lankan Airlines. This hoarding that depicts an Airbus aircraft is located inside the Taj Samudra Hotel boundary wall and faces a paved area just outside the Army Headquarters perimeter wall. There she met a middle aged man who gave her instructions. She was told by the man to turn up at a bus halt close to Minister Devananda's office on the morning of Wednesday (July 7). The suicide bomber arrived there. She spoke with her and they chose to enter the Ministry office separately. From the ground floor there, only batches of five at a time were being sent to the first floor to meet Mr. Devananda. The suicide bomber's conduct, when she walked upstairs, roused the suspicion of a Woman Police Constable (WPC). The discomfort she suffered when she walked was clear. She could not bend. The WPC wanted to check her but she resisted. She said she was in a bad state of health. Evidently, she was not familiar with the surroundings. If she had detonated the explosives strapped to her body when she was on the first floor, it would have been certain death for Mr. Devananda, who, unlike the proverbial cat with nine lives has had one more. He has escaped at least ten times, one very daringly. That was when his apartment at Havelock Road was attacked. He used his pistol to fire at the light in the ceiling to create darkness and jumped out of the first floor. He ran towards the Burgher Recreation Club grounds where he spent the night before seeking help. Ministerial Security Division (MSD) personnel brought the suicide bomber downstairs. They halted a three wheeler taxi and took her to the Kollupitiya Police Station. There a WPC took her to a women's changing room and tried to examine her. She protested and began to cry. She resisted and came out. Thereafter when the Police telephoned the Special Task Force (STF) Bomb Squad, she detonated the explosives. That was after a wait of over 25 minutes. This was when she learnt the squad would arrive to check her. All that time she had wanted to avoid taking any Police target since the suicide attack was not intended for them. By then, MSD men at the Ministry had detained Ms Selvakumar. She was handed over to the CID detectives. A CID team that went to the Kollupitiya Police Station found a room, where the suicide bomber was to be examined when she detonated the explosives, was locked. They broke open the lock and entered. They found the hand bag carried by the suicide bomber. It contained the cell phone and a name card that gave the name and address of the lodge where she stayed. From the police station,DIG Goonetillke immediately directed SSP Mendis to telephone CID headquarters and rush a team to raid the lodge. A file that contained documents with telephone numbers and a map was also found. This map gave details of the Galle Road. Locations like the Indian High Commission and some other buildings were clearly marked out. A surprise raid was carried out on Nectar Lodge. Detectives entered the room occupied by Ms Selvakumar. There they seized more documents and learnt from the hotel staff that since her arrival she had been busy for three days making or receiving phone calls. She had used both the mobile phone she carried as well as the land line at the lodge. The Sunday Times learns that the CID has unearthed vital evidence to confirm that the suicide attack was indeed an LTTE act. Remnants of the suicide jacket have made detectives believe it is a recently manufactured one. Instead of denim, a silk material had been used. Compared with some suicide jackets in possession of the Police, modifications had been made on the one used in the latest incident. Why has the LTTE embarked on a killing spree? Are they revenge attacks? It is well known that extraneous issues have taken precedence over matters relating to the peace talks. Main among them is the controversy over Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, a one time confidant of LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran and now arch enemy. It is also a known fact that Mr. Prabhakaran and the Wanni leadership have been angered over matters relating to the Karuna affair. It is almost entirely over cadres loyal to the renegade leader carrying out attacks against those loyal to the Wanni leadership than over Karuna being given "protective custody." The fact that he was given such custody by the Army and it was known to UPFA leaders as well as higher ups in the defence establishment was exclusively revealed in The Sunday Times (Situation Report - June 27). The LTTE has so far raised no issue over returning Karuna. Therefore
it has not warranted any official Government response. On Monday (July 5), when LTTE observed the annual "Black Tiger day," a Political Wing leader for Batticaloa, Senathirajah and colleague Neelan were shot at by unidentified gunmen. This was when the duo was on their way to attend ceremonies connected with the occasion. The incident took place in Security Forces controlled Batticaloa town area. In another incident, also in the controlled area, two senior LTTE cadres Ravi alias Maama was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire in Vantharamoolai. He was riding a motor cycle. His colleague Ishwara Kumar was wounded. The LTTE blamed the Karuna faction for the attack and said it had taken place in close proximity to the Police or Security Forces installations. Hence there was a veiled suggestion there was support from them, a suggestion hotly denied by Defence Ministry officials. But a more disturbing development took place on that Monday (July 5) evening at Hingurakgoda. Fourteen members of the Karuna faction had arrived in the village of Diyabubula and taken shelter at Bodhirukkaramaya Temple. It was a sing song that had alerted the villagers to tip-off the Police. The group were singing Tamil songs. A Police team swooped on the temple and arrested all 14 members. They were later produced before the Polonnaruwa Magistrate K. Sivapathasunderam who granted them Rs 25,000 surety bail each. Two samanera monks were also produced separately and the Police said they had discovered a cache of weapons in the Temple premises. Jayantha Gamage, DIG told The Sunday Times "we could not link the suspects to the detection of the weapons as they were not arrested with them. The 14 persons were produced before the Magistrate under normal laws and the Police did not object to bail being granted." Jurangan Savangan SSP Polonnaruwa said two separate investigations were under way. Despite the Police claims, there are serious discrepancies over how the incident occurred. Officially, the Sri Lanka Army had told a different story to the entire world. The Army's website (http: www. Army.lk) had the following account on July 6 (Tuesday). That is a day after the incident: "
POLONNARUWA "Those
Tamil youths, according to the Police, en route towards BATTICALOA,
had sought overnight lodging at the BUBULA temple, HINGURAKGODA
since it was late in the evening. "The
HINGURAKGODA Police are proceeding with further investigations." It is well known that the Media Unit at Army Headquarters is not manned by competent personnel conversant with media relations or are in touch with simple day to day developments. The report on the website could be accessed from any part of the world. It will not be wrong for the LTTE to accuse the Government of double talk in respect of 14 members of the Karuna faction. In fact, the head of the LTTE Political Division in Batticaloa, E. Kousaylyan told the Tamilnet website on July 7 that "Now it is very obvious that the Sri Lankan authorities are conniving with their military intelligence and Police to gather, arm and send stragglers of the Karuna group to murder innocents and sabotage the peace. What happened today is a travesty of Justice, Mr. Kousalyan said." "He
further pointed out that a group of LTTE cadres who were arrested
by Sri Lanka Police with a box of cartridges in Batticaloa in early
2003 are still in custody because the courts refuse to grant them
bail." "BATTICALOA
AND AMPARA "Firearms
and Ammunitions "Other
Items The 14 youth belonging to the Karuna faction, The Sunday Times investigation revealed, were heading for Batticaloa from Colombo. They found themselves uncomfortable after the UPFA Government distanced themselves publicly from the attacks men from this fraction were carrying out on cadres loyal to the Wanni leadership. Fearing a possible round up, they had chosen to return to uncontrolled areas in Batticaloa. Comments on matters relating to weapons said to be in their possession cannot be made since it is now sub judice. There were also other misunderstandings that further angered the LTTE leadership in Wanni. The absence of a competent Army media unit did not help in clearing the doubts. It came after the Police, who had taken charge of the 14 cadres, chose to move them to a safe location for the night on Monday. They were to be produced before a Magistrate only the next day. Police sought Army escort. Army
soldiers in three vehicles were provided. The LTTE intelligence
cadres who had been monitoring the developments thought the Army
was in fact colluding with the 14 members of the Karuna faction.
They raised issue. A squel to the Police raid on the temple in Bubule came on Thursday night. An unidentified person hurled a grenade into the temple seriouly wounding the chief incumbent, Ven. Kadigamuwe Sugathapala Thera. He was airlifted in a helicopter to Colombo. He died at the National Hospital in Colombo yesterday. Last Thursday Norway's Special Envoy, Erik Solheim was holding talks with LTTE Chief Negotiator, Anton Balasingham in London. The latter had raised issue over what he called support by Army intelligence units to Tamil para military groups including the attacking and killing of LTTE cadres. Mr. Solheim is learnt to have explained to him the position of President Kumaratunga spelt out to him during talks in Colombo. In April, this year, when the UPFA Government wanted to resume peace talks, it publicly declared the LTTE had agreed to talk without any pre conditions at any date and time convenient to them. It soon came to light that the LTTE was insisting on discussing the proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA). This demand was over shadowed when the Karuna issue came to the fore. They insisted that the Karuna issue should be resolved with the Government ensuring that violence by that faction in the east ceases. And last Tuesday, Dr. Balasingham made clear to Mr. Solheim that any talks would now hinge on the Government adhering to section 1.8 of the Ceasefire Agreement. This provision says: "Tamil paramilitary groups shall be disarmed by the GOSL by D day + 30 at the latest. The GOSL shall offer to integrate individuals in these units under the command and disciplinary structure of the GOSL armed forces for service away from the northern and eastern province." All these developments make one thing clear - the UPFA Government has still not got its act together. As repeatedly pointed out in these columns, it would have to first shore up its credibility and convince both the international community and the LTTE that it is both serious and genuine about talking peace. That means being transparent enough and having to take important decisions to put things right in the defence establishment. They are more important during peace than during war. |
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