Cornered Tigers bare their teeth
By Inter Press Service correspondents
COLOMBO - Cornered by the Sri Lankan army in their northern stronghold of
Kilinochchi, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) struck back on Monday
with the deadliest weapon in their arsenal, the suicide bomber, killing a
former army chief and 24 other people.
Retired Major General Janaka Perera, one of Sri Lanka's most popular and
decorated military commanders, was killed while inaugurating the new offices of
the main opposition United National Party (UNP), of which he was the local
leader. His wife was among those who died in the blast.
In recent months, the LTTE has lost considerable stretches of territory and now
faces the army's forward brigades at the gates of
its political nerve center, Kilinochchi.
Since the early 1990s, LTTE suicide cadres, called the Black Tigers, have been
responsible for the deaths of one Sri Lankan president, a former Indian prime
minister, at least four Sri Lankan ministers and a navy commander. Former
president Chandrika Kumaratunga narrowly escaped a suicide bomber attack in
1999, but lost an eye.
The present army commander, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, and Defense
Secretary Gottabaya Rajapakse, who are leading the thrust into LTTE-held
territory in the north, have also survived suicide attacks while in office.
Perera, army chief from 2000 to 2001, is credited by many with the thwarting of
an LTTE onslaught on the northern Jaffna Peninsula in 2000.
After retiring from the military he served as his country's envoy in Indonesia
and Australia before returning to Sri Lanka and joining politics on behalf of
the UNP.
"Initial investigations said the Tiger suicide bomber, disguised as a party
supporter, had mingled with other civilians in the compound, minutes before the
arrival of the retired military officer and other invitees for the opening of
the North Central Province opposition leader's new office," the Sri Lankan army
said.
The Defense Ministry said the bomber walked into the midst of the crowd
gathered for the ceremony and detonated the explosives. The blast left the
entrance to the building strewn with bodies and body parts.
Only two days ago when army chief Fonseka attended ceremonies to mark the 59th
Army Day in Anuradhapura, he had announced that his troops were now two
kilometers away from the center of Kilinochchi town.
In an interview with the state-owned English newspaper Sunday Observer, Fonseka
urged the Tigers to surrender to advancing forces rather than risk fighting.
"It is the best time for the LTTEers to surrender. Arrangements are being made
for them to be rehabilitated," he was quoted as saying.
Sri Lankan government forces lost control of Kilinochchi town in September 1998
to the LTTE, which is fighting to carve out a homeland for ethnic Tamils in the
north and east of the island nation. Tamils make up 11.9% of Sri Lanka's
population of 20 million and Sinhalese almost 74%.
The Defense Ministry said that fighting was reported south of Kilinochchi over
the weekend and that the air force also carried out raids on Monday.
"Defense sources in the frontlines reveal that troops ... kept the momentum of
their advance in the south of Kilinochchi and the west of Mankulam areas
despite heavy resistance from the LTTE," the ministry said.
Fonseka said the military would allow the tens of thousands of civilians
trapped in areas northeast of the town escape to safer demarcated areas.
According to the latest UN humanitarian updates, over 220,000 internally
displaced persons remain in areas northeast of Kilinochchi. The government and
several humanitarian agencies have accused the LTTE of preventing civilians
from moving into government-held areas.
Perera's UNP said the government should take responsibility for the
assassination and charged it with doing little despite being aware of the
threat to the former general's life.
"The government was very aware of the threat, in fact a senior police officer
personally informed him [Perera] of it," UNP secretary general Tissa Attanayake
told the media. "The government began conducting search operations, including
in Anuradhapura, several days before the assassination. How can it explain the
presence of a suicide cadre?"
Senior UNP member John Amaratunga told the media that it was still not clear
who carried out the attack. "It appears as if someone who wanted to stop his
progress as a politician was behind this."
President Mahinda Rajapakse, however, said the assassination was the work of
the Tigers and that it served as yet another reminder that the country needs to
unite to defeat them. "We have lost so many lives to terrorism, it is time for
us to unite and defeat this curse," he said while addressing a function in
southern Sri Lanka.
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