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SUICIDE MISSION: The pattern of suicide missions by the LTTE cadres has undergone enormous changes since the first suicide mission carried out by Black Tiger Miller, a self-styled 'captain' in the LTTE ranks.

He drove an explosives-laden truck to a Security Forces camp based at Nelliadi Central College, Jaffna on July 5, 1987.

Since then the Tigers have carried out 73 suicide attacks using an unaccounted number of suicide cadres, some of whom could well have been innocent civilians who had blindly followed the orders of Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, in the name of 'liberation' of Tamils.

The LTTE's suicide squads, believed to be modelled after the infamous Hizbullah, have since surpassed any terrorist group with the intensity of its suicide missions and carnage wreaked, during the last 20 years.

It has also employed 27 per cent women in these actions, which it hoped would cast a more sympathetic light on the organisation as in the cases of women suicide cadres involved in Rajiv gandhi assassination and the

It is significant that the Hizbullah and other terrorist organisations have since resorted to using women as well.

The LTTE leader has created a climate of chronic conflict, hopelessness, anger, sense of injustice, depression, fear, oppression, poverty and fanaticism which creates minds receptive to misguided ideas. They become receptive in the face of the deadly persuasion of pseudo-religious leaders.

The LTTE's propaganda wing and educational wing take great care to indoctrinate youth in LTTE controlled areas on the need to make sacrifices for the cause.

The LTTE leader stated that whilst Eelam will be achieved eventually, Black Tiger operations will hasten the process and thereby minimise the suffering of the people in the North.

Black Tiger cadres are given the opportunity of meeting the LTTE leader in person and partake a meal with him, have a portrait photograph taken and are praised by him prior to a mission.

In addition to seeking persons having the above psychological profiles, the LTTE also looks for persons who have qualities that may give them access to the target area with minimum difficulty.

In this context persons who have been employed in the target areas, have relations in the target areas and have superior language skills are considered.

In order to have access to the target area the LTTE has formulated many systems by which to provide the bomber with a cover as in the case of suicide cadre who attempted to take the life of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on December 1.

The Tiger outfit, over the years has intensified the network of suicide cadres by planting cadres all over the country to be picked up at any given time to be deployed for their missions without restricting them to individual cells in Tiger camps waiting for their mission.

The suicide cadre involved in the Defence Secretary Rajapaksa assassination attempt had lived in Colombo since 2001 engaged in various professions appearing as a Muslim using a forged identity card.

It has also been revealed that the suicide cadre believed to be a loner from Jaffna had spent a luxury life with funds received from the LTTE in Colombo unlike other suicide cadres who had been deployed for various suicide missions in Colombo earlier.

It has come to light that he had even visited brothel houses in Colombo and suburbs to enjoy his lonely life despite his commitment to the organisation.

In some instances the LTTE may accost persons from the North who are employed or presently domiciled in the South to provide an access point.

In other instances the LTTE may create links with Southern Sinhalese who travel to the North and East on personal matters and use them to provide an access point.

The suicide women cadre Manjula Devi who attempted to take the life of Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka was a classic example.

Once these cadres arrive in the target area their behaviour would vary in relation to the time frame involved.

In the case of a long-term sleeper, the bomber would create a persona that would make them acceptable to the community like the suicide bomber involved in the Defence Secretary assassination bid, who attended religious rituals of Muslims posing as a Muslim.

With these changes, it has become extremely difficult for security officials to identify suicide cadres as they too spend normal lives like other citizens, renting houses and preparing forged identity cards hoodwinking security officials.

This tactic was used by the suicide cadre involved in the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, where he became a regular visitor to the Premadasa household without even a security check.

It should be noted that in some instances these long-term sleepers have changed their mind and aborted their missions by escaping overseas, going into hiding or surrendering to the authorities.

According to investigators, it has now become extremely difficult for security officials to identify and trace their places of origin even after their death since they have lived out of their places of origin for a considerable period.

Earlier, the undamaged head of the suicide cadre was the best clue to identify them. But the Tiger outfit has changed the pattern of the explosion of the suicide kits to lessen the chance of tracing the identity of the suicide cadres.

Though they used explosives only for a horizontal explosion earlier, which doesn't damage the face/head of the suicide cadres, the new suicide kits cause a vertical explosion that disfigures their faces.

According to international experts the LTTE is unequivocally the most brutal terrorist organisation ever to utilise suicide terrorism.

The records show that its suicide attacks in Sri Lanka and India have left thousands of innocent bystanders dead or wounded.

It has so far only engaged in land and seaborne suicide missions targeting VIPs, economic and civilian targets.

But taking into consideration the LTTE's past record of improvisation, the use of airborne suicide tactics to target already identified military, economic and political targets, cannot be ruled out.

It is believed that Prabhakaran planned to use suicide terrorism to show the international community that the LTTE members and Tamil people were willing to die for a separate state within Sri Lanka.

However, it is still questionable how far the Tiger leader has reached his objective of establishing a separate state by sacrificing the precious lives of Tamil youths throughout his never-ending conflict.

Have all these youth sacrificed their precious lives towards a worthy cause as spelled out by their leaders? What have they reaped out of their sacrifices to assassinate leaders like Rajiv Gandhi, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Gamini Dissanayake, Ranjan Wijeratna and Tamil leaders like Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvan?

LTTE leader Prabhakaran, through his intelligence wing leader Pottu Amman's operatives have picked up these youth from different strata in Tamil society, exploiting their vulnerability and fears due to social cultural, religious and psychological factors to achieve his petty objectives.

In the case of Dhanu, the women suicide cadre involved in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, he used the anti-Indian feelings of a young woman to achieve his narrow objective to get rid of Rajiv Gandhi whom he thought was an obstacle for him.

But an analysis of these incidents shows that though the LTTE had achieved immediate and short term objectives through these suicide missions in the long run they have lost locally and also internationally.

Contrary to earning the recognition so coveted by Prabhakaran, they have actually incurred the wrath of the international community in the face of all these cases.

They have hindered genuine efforts made by certain Tamil leaders including Dr. Thiruchelvan to find a peaceful solution to the ethnic question.

The bomber was identified as Kulaveersingha Veerakumar alias Babu of 38/1 Old Park Road, Gurunagar, Jaffna.

He arrived in Colombo in January 1992 and was domiciled at Colombo 12. While there he formed a network of acquaintances. He met one Ranasingha. Through Ranasingha, Babu met Mohideen, a close associate of the President.

Through this link he was able to gain access to Sucharitha on numerous occasions and relayed the President's daily routines to LTTE Intelligence leader Pottu Amman.

Attempted assassination of Chandrika Kumaratunga, President of Sri Lanka on December 18, 1999

The bomber was identified as Manikkam Leela alias Savithri alias Malar of Manmunai, Thalamkudah, Batticaloa. She arrived in Colombo in January 1999 and was sent to the Shri Maniappar Swami Shri Maha Kaliamman Kovil in Blomandhoel Road.

The suicide jacket used in the bombing and two others had arrived in this location by van prior to the bomber's arrival.

The bomber was identified as Thiyagarajah Jeyrajini alias Nishadhini of Chemmani, Manippai, Jaffna. She was introduced to Leela Selvakumari, an employee of the EPDP in Jaffna through LTTE cadre Gunan of Kilinochchi.

Leela was pressured into teaching the bomber about the security arrangements around the Minister and was also required to ensure her safe passage into the Minister's office.

She arrived in Colombo and was employed as a domestic helper. She left her job just prior to the attempt and even returned to the employer's home to pay a loan before carrying out the mission.

The bomber is believed to have been one Manjula Devi. She came to Colombo through the help of one Shanmugalingam Sooriyakumar alias Suri a lorry driver from Rumbukkana.

Suri was involved in a lorry accident in the LTTE controlled area of Jaffna on January 18, 2005 and was approached by the LTTE while commuting for the hearings in Jaffna.

He installed Manjula Devi with his wife in Rambukkana during the first week of July 2005 and in return was given money to buy a three wheeler and a house. The bomber also rented a house in Weliweriya.

The making of a suicide cadre

ARREST: Thuraisamy Menaka, that is how she introduced herself to me. That could have been or could not have been her real name. She was arrested by the Army in Rajagiriya a few months back as she was returning to her lodge after rehearsing for a suicide mission in Nugegoda.

On left is a letter written to the LTTE leadershp by a LTTE cadre seeking permission to join the Black Tiger unit. This is the translation.

To: The National Leader of Thamil eelam
Trincomalee district
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Thamil eleam.

My dearest Brother, our National Leader,

It has been three years since I joined our organisation. During my tenure I have very precisely carried out all the tasks I was assigned by my leaders.
This has left my family to face a lot atrocities from the Sri Lankan army. Now I am determined to contribute to destroy the Sri Lankan Forces. So my brother, in future battles I have decided to fight as a Black Tiger cadre. I await your reply in this regard.

Yours faithfully,
cadre A. Babu
A:0210

The task entrusted to her was to blast an explosives-laden van in Nugegoda area targeting a bus carrying soldiers to Colombo. But dates were not fixed for her mission.

She went for a reconnaissance mission to see the location of the van and also how Army buses were plying on the Highlevel Road passing Nugegoda. She was arrested by the Army suspecting her identity cards which had a Jaffna address.

This 26-year-old girl hails from Uduthurai North, Thalaiadi, Point Pedro Jaffna.

She lost the love of her mother when she was only three years. The mother died as her drunken father assaulted her before Menaka's own eyes. Thereafter, she had to live with her cruel father.

But she faced another misfortune when she was only eight years old. Her father didn't allow her to spend a peaceful life. He brutally raped this innocent girl when she was only eight years old.

The school principal noticed this and after hearing her story handed her to her grandmother. She in turn handed over Menaka to her mother's sister.

She spent her life with her mother's sister along with her three children. They all lived together and changed all birth certificates, addresses and legal documents to show that she was one of their children.

Menaka fell in love with a boy when she was 20. Her aunt and uncle got all the properties inherited to her from her grandmother promising they will make arrangements for her marriage with her lover.

But all that changed in 2000 when the LTTE forced each family to give one of their children to their unit. Her aunt picked her and handed over to the LTTE keeping her three children with her.

"As I didn't have my mother or father or anybody else I reluctantly underwent LTTE training for three months and worked with the intelligence wing of the LTTE," she added.

LTTE Intelligence Wing leader Pottu Amman visited their camp in Thalaiadi for a festival in 2003. He told the women cadres there to write a letter to Prabhakaran if they were willing to join as suicide cadres.

Many girls wrote letters expressing their willingness to join as suicide cadres.

But only Menaka and Subaleela got their rare chance of becoming suicide cadres. Pottu Amman selected only two of them.

"I wanted to die because I don't have anyone in this world. I didn't have any other intention to sacrifice my life on behalf of the LTTE or any other objective," Menaka added.

"They provided us suicide training for more than three months. We were not allowed to talk each other and we were not aware what our missions were."

"I have never moved out of Jaffna and Kilinochchi. Therefore I believed all what they were saying about the Sinhalese and also about the Army. My only intention in that period was to die. But we were not aware what our targets were until they brought us to Colombo," said Menaka.

"Now I am happy I could live. But I want to go back to society and live with people. I have this desire today though I didn't have that feeling earlier. I am willing to live with the support of my friends if we are given proper job training and also a job to earn a living," Menaka said boldly.

Suicide terror: LTTE hallmark that exemplifies sheer brutality

The making of a suicide cadre