LTTE suicide bomber who targeted Army Chief was pregnant, investigator says

Dilip Ganguly, Associated Press Writer

COLOMBO: The LTTE bomber who blew herself up targeting Sri Lanka's top General was pregnant and that helped her to conceal explosives and get inside Army Headquarters for a maternity check, an investigator says.

The brazen attack Tuesday triggered tit-for-tat military action by troops and the LTTE that has pushed Sri Lanka close to civil war after a four-year ceasefire.

The bomber has been identified as Anoja Kugenthirasah, 21, from Vavuniya and was believed to be a member of the Black Tigers suicide squad, the investigator said.

The investigator, who cited hospital records in his account of results so far of the probe, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said he was aware of the initial findings, but that "cannot make comment until the investigation is over."

On Tuesday, the bomber apparently targeted the car of Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka inside the military headquarters.

The attack killed 10 people and wounded 27, including Fonseka, who suffered serious abdominal injuries and on Friday was in an intensive care unit where doctors described his condition as stable. The suicide bombing led the Government to carry out air strikes on Tiger bases in the north-east. The LTTE hit back by exploding anti-personnel mines. The new violence has threatened to finally shatter a Norway-brokered peace deal

Fonseka, a battle-hardened soldier with 35 years in the infantry, was appointed to the top post after President Mahinda Rajapaksa took office in November.

On Dec. 4, the Tigers carried out the first major attack since the 2002 ceasefire, killing 12 Navy Sailors and unleashing dozens of rebel attacks, mainly using anti-personnel mines.

Sri Lanka's military at first exercised restraint, but Fonseka convinced Rajapaksa that retaliation was needed and the military began to return fire when attacked.

He also convinced the Government that the 120,000-strong Army needed to modernise its weapons after a four-year period of relative neglect since the ceasefire.

Fonseka clearly had become a formidable enemy for the Tigers.

So, the planning started.

The bomber had fake identification showing she was the wife of a clerk working for the Sri Lankan Army, the investigator said, citing hospital records. Those records also showed she was pregnant, the investigator said.

Every Tuesday, the military hospital inside the headquarters holds a maternity clinic. She had attended the clinic on three preceding Tuesdays, the hospital records show, according to the investigator.

She also came to be known with the guards and learned the routine of Fonseka, who generally went home for lunch around 1.30 p.m., the investigator said.

This past Tuesday, the bomber got inside the Army garrison a half-hour ahead of the clinic and stood in front of the hospital, which is beside the road that Fonseka takes to come out of the headquarters.

As his car approached, she came closer, and was shouted at by one of Fonseka's motor cycle escorts who ordered her to get away, the investigator said. She detonated the bomb shortly afterward.

Five of Fonseka's escorts were killed.

The Black Tigers are renowned for their skill at deploying suicide bombers against military, economic and civilian targets.

Victims have included former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and numerous Sri Lankan ministers and senior politicians. Another former President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, narrowly survived a suicide attack in 1999, but lost one eye in the blast.

The first Black Tigers suicide attack was on July 5, 1987, when a Tiger known as Captain Miller drove a truckload of explosives into a military camp and detonated them, killing 40 soldiers.

Since then, 240 other Tigers have blown themselves up. (Colombo - AP)