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SRI LANKA: Cornered Tamil Rebels Resort to Suicide Bombing

IPS Correspondents

COLOMBO, Oct 6 2008 (IPS) - 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 Maj. Gen. 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 centre, Kilinochchi.

Since the early 1990s, LTTE suicide cadres, called 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, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, and defence 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 thwarting 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 Lanka army said.

The defence ministry said the bomber had 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 km away from the centre 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 said.

Sri Lankan government forces lost control over 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 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 20 million and Sinhalese almost 74 percent.

The defence ministry said that fighting was reported south of Kilinochchi over the weekend and that air force had carried out raids on Monday as well.

"Defence sources in the frontlines reveal that troops killed during yesterday's operations (Oct. 5) kept the momentum of their advance in the south of Kilinochchi and the west of Mankulam (south of Kilinochchi) areas despite heavy resistance from LTTE," the ministry said.

Fonseka said the military would allow the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in areas north-east of the town escape to safer demarcated areas.

According to the latest U.N. humanitarian updates, over 220,000 internally displaced persons remain in areas north-east 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 while 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 had personally informed him (Perera) of it," UNP secretary-general Tissa Attanayake told the media. "The government has been 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 as to 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 for the country to unite to defeat the Tigers. "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.