16th January 2000

Cordon and search yields results

Army makes prize catch but handler is at large

After a four hour long cordon and search ended on Thursday (January 6) in the town area of Batticaloa, men of the Five Signals Regiment gathered those rounded up to a playground for what has come to be a regular ritual–a parade before masked spotters.

A young man, who concealed himself in a loose sack with two holes, nodded his head as three persons went past, one after another. The spotter, a guerrilla turned informant, had identified three of his former colleagues.

The three men were separated from others. Soon Army officials began interrogating them. It is only then they learnt that they have made a prize catch. One of those identified was a suicide bomber about to leave for Colombo to take on a target.

The other two, fluent Sinhala speakers, were men assigned to escort suicide cadres into the City. Once they arrive in the capital, they would introduce their handler and return to the east. It was the handler who provided the suicide kit and led the suicide bomber to a target.

The trio were operating directly under LTTE's Batticaloa intelligence wing leader, Ramanan. They had a cellular phone in their possession. That was used to make contact with the handler and others once they arrived in the City.

On Friday (January 7), Army officials bundled them into a vehicle and rushed them to Colombo. Intense interrogation went on till the next day. More shocking revelations followed.

On Saturday night, as exclusively reported in these columns on January 9, Army personnel swooped down on an LTTE safe house – a timber depot at Kotahena and recovered a suicide jacket. They also found slabs of TNT explosives, six switches and five detonators – material enough to equip five more suicide jackets.

These components were to be assembled into jackets by the handler. One suicide jacket was to be used by the suicide cadre now in custody. Similar cadres arriving in the City were to be issued the other ones. The discovery, just 24 hours after a prolonged house to house search under a curfew led to no discovery, was certainly good news to the security forces and the Police.

But the bad news was that the handler, a man now identified as Varathan, has gone missing. A massive manhunt is now under way, both by the Army and the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) to track him down. They believe Varathan may have fled after news reached him that an LTTE trio had been arrested in Batticaloa during a cordon and search operation.

Investigations so far have revealed that Varathan had plans to lead the arrested suicide cadre to one of two targets. One has been the leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), Douglas Devananda, a man who has survived two attacks. The other is a Muslim Cabinet minister. Whether it is M.H.M. Ashraff, A.H.M. Fowzie or Alavi Moulana is yet to be ascertained. So are the identities of other targets for suicide cadre attacks for which Varathan reportedly carried out surveillance.

Both the Army and TID officials are convinced that the arrest of the suicide bomber in Batticaloa averted a possible suicide bomb explosion.

However, security in the City and suburbs has been strengthened in the light of the ongoing investigations.

Within a span of three weeks beginning December 18, last year, three Tiger guerrilla cadres have detonated explosives strapped to their body. The first incident was at the Town Hall where President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga escaped miraculously. At the same time as this incident, another suicide bomber, a male, exploded himself at Jaela killing retired Major General Lakshman Algama, former Chief of Staff. The third was outside the Prime Minister's office in Flower Road which has taken the lives of 14 persons. Senior security officials believe this is a new trend as suicide bombers have not operated in the City since 6th February, 1998. On that occasion, a female suicide cadre, later identified as Ganesh Indrani, detonated explosives strapped to her body outside the Sri Lanka Air Force Headquarters.

Besides other reasons, one of the contributory factors, they believe, is to ease the pressure on security forces who have been resisting Tiger guerrilla attempts to isolate Elephant Pass sector for the past five weeks. Since December 11, last year, Tiger guerrillas have mounted a string of attacks on the Elephant Pass sector.

"Vettilaikerni has remained a strategic location in the north east coast. Since the fall of the Mullaitivu military base to guerrilla hands in July, 1996, maritime movements in the coastal stretch between the Jaffna peninsula and Trincomalee were monitored from here. There was a radar and surveillance point. In addition, supplies to the entire Elephant Pass sector were unloaded at Vettilaikerni…"

Situation Report of December 19, last year, added "For well over two weeks, bitter fighting has been raging between Tiger guerrillas and the security forces in the Elephant Pass sector. Yesterday, Tiger cadres mounted fresh attacks at Elephant Pass. This came barely 24 hours after troops launched a search and clear operation at Iyakachchi.

"Tiger cadres have also been making several abortive attempts to infiltrate Jaffna peninsula by landing by boat in Thanankilappu. This is by crossing the Jaffna lagoon. They are using their base in Pooneryn as the staging area for these attacks.

"…….As reported in these columns last week, on December 17 troops fighting pitched battles in the Elephant Pass/Paranthan

In effect troops have fallen back to the defensive positions

On Wednesday (January 5), the security forces officially admitted to the Colombo based diplomatic community that they had lost Paranthan, the southern defence of the Elephant Pass sector.

In the past week, there has been a lull in the fighting at Elephant Pass. Security forces have been successful in containing guerrilla advances east of Iyakachchi thus preventing the LTTE from isolating Elephant Pass.

In marked contrast to the lull at Elephant Pass, LTTE attacks at Thanankilappu has continued throughout the week. Both the guerrillas and the security forces have been locked in mortar and artillery battles. Here again the security forces have successfully repulsed attempts by Tiger cadres to advance.

In another significant development, the three member Military Court of Inquiry that probed the military reversals in the Wanni in November, last year, handed over its report to Army Commander, Srilal Weerasooriya, last Tuesday.

The handing over took place at Army Headquarters. A bound volume which contains evidence and opinions expressed by the Court was given to Lt. Gen. Weerasooriya by Major General Lionel Balagalle, Army Chief of Staff.

The other two members, Air Vice Marshal Donald Perera, Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Air Force and Rear Admiral Daya Sandagiri, Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Navy were also present.

Military sources said yesterday that Lt. Gen. Weerasooriya would now make his observations, opinions and recommendations on the Court of Inquiry report and forward it to Chandrananda de Silva, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence. He in turn is expected to forward it to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

The report is due to reach Mr. de Silva later next week, according to the same sources. They remained tight-lipped on the findings of the Court.

The Sunday Times learns that the Court has made severe strictures on some senior Army officials and recommended court martialling other officers for lapses that led to the fall of almost all territory in the Wanni re-captured during the PA Government's current tenure of office.

An official announcement of some of the findings of the Court of Inquiry is expected to be made once the report reaches President Kumaratunga.

The focus of the security forces in the very first month of the new millennium has been to resist any LTTE advances in the Elephant Pass and the Jaffna peninsula.

In addition, they are providing back up support to the Police in the City and other principal towns to prevent attacks on VIPs or vital installations.

With no prospects of a major offensive in sight, their defensive roles will continue, at least for many coming weeks.

The Fifth Column

Editorial/ Opinion Contents