Chronology Of Ltte Terror - Part 25
From the Daily News Archives:
[Tuesday December 16, 1986]
Terrorist war claims heavy toll
LTTE bid for supremacy on eve of Indian visit?:
When the euphoria of victory dies down, and
together with it the media hype ceases, when the guns do not rattle and
boom anymore, and the sky, the land and the sea become calm and serene,
when tranquillity reigns through it is natural to live in the present
moment and forget the past. But one cannot live in the present without a
past.
Nor can one envision the future discarding
the experience of the preceding events. Hence the Daily News is
serialising the Chronicle of LTTE Terror taken from our own archives
which would remind our readers how it all began.
An awareness of the chronology of terror
would help us prevent the recurrence of such terror and frustrate any
attempts by misguided elements to repeat history to suit their evil
designs.
It was not simple terror. Nor was terror
sporadic. It was all pre-planned, pre-determined, well-calculated
terror. The victims were innocent people. Though it is too many
innumerate we would like to recall the major episodes in the Chronology
of Terror.
One report said the death toll could run as high as 45, but this was
not confirmed. Lankapuvath last night reported the death toll at 75.
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Even little
children not spared by terrorists |
National Security Minister Lalith Athulathmudali, who helicoptered to
Anuradhapura shortly after his arrival from a visit to the USA, said
warfare among the terrorists was inevitable.
“The LTTE has wrapped-up the North, but is not finding the going as
easy in the East, where many of its cadres are not familiar with the
geography of the area or the lie of the land,” a senior military officer
said.
Reports from Jaffna, quoting residents, said that the LTTE has
claimed to have overrun more than 30 EPRLF camps in the peninsula, but
the main EPRLF base at Manipay is intact.
“They may not feel confident enough to attack that base”, one source
said.
A Colombo-datelined Reuter report quoted residents as saying that
more than 500 members of the EPRLF had surrendered. According to LTTE
claims they had also taken over EPRLF sentry points in Jaffna town and
manned them with their own armed ‘Tigers’. Reuters said that the LTTE
was hunting their rivals in the peninsula.
Analysts in Colombo interpreted the fighting to be part of the
continuing LTTE effort to project itself as the major terrorist group.
They pointed out that the LTTE’s backers in Madras have been pushing
for the New Delhi government to recognise the Tigers as the main
spokesman for the Tamil groups.
The fighting between the two groups, the worst inferencing warfare
among the terrorists since the LTTE wiped out TELO in a brutal massacre
in May, began on Saturday, with the two sides accusing each other of
robberies abductions and other antisocial acts.
Observers believe that the LTTE is keen on establishing its supremacy
in both the North and the East on the eve of the arrival here of Indian
Ministers of State, P. Chidambaram and Natwar Singh, who are due
tomorrow.
The year 1987 begins with LTTE continuing killings
Wijitha Nakkawita
When the year 1987 was dawning both Colombo and New Delhi were making
efforts to rein in the lawless terrorist groups that were not only
becoming a menace to Sri Lanka but also to India.
Having angered their benefactors like South Indian Chief Minister
M.G.Ramachandran the Tamil silver screen’s Sri Lankan born idol turned
politician.
It was in this scenario the the newspapers reported that Prbhakaran
the LTTE boss had returned to Jaffna with some of his key associates to
begin the bloodletting not only among the innocent civilians in several
parts of the country but also to kill members of the other separatist
terrorist groups in his bid to achieve supremacy among the killer bands.
As the new year was only five days old the EROS terrorist group that
was one of the collaborators of the LTTE tied up a sixteen year old boy
Sellaih Baskaran and another 23 year old youth of Komari in the east and
shot them dead. The EROS left a note alleging they were traitors.
On the same day they seized the motor cycle of Rev Fr. Theophillus
Rajan and were engaged in a number of smaller acts like threatening
people but on January 15 the LTTE-EROS syndicate attempted to blow up
the Kolonnawa oil installation but the attempt was foiled by two
plainclothesmen of the police who had detected two suspicious looking
persons carrying a kit bag containing explosives.
It was reported that the LTTE boss had requested the EROS bomb
experts to blow up the oil installation in retaliation for a control on
fuel imposed for Jaffna for security reasons.
The next incident where 6 people were killed and 51 people were
killed came by a parcel bomb placed in a bus at Badulla a day after
ripping the rear portion of the bus. Later on it was found that a couple
from the north were responsible for placing the bomb in the bus. They
were later arrested at Dehiwala.
On January 28 the terrorists killed 13 members of the police Special
Task Force near Batticaloa in a landmine and the army in a crackdown in
the east surrounded the LTTE camp at Kokkadicholain and attacked it
killing 20 LTTE terrorist cadres in the camp and seized a stock of arms
and ammunition in it.
On January 30th, terrorists killed a driver of the Batticaloa
Kachcheri Anthony Bartholot after tying him. A note was left near the
body of the slain driver accusing him of being a traitor!
Forty two people were killed including LTTE cadres during the month
that month shadowing hopes for a peaceful settlement that the leaders of
Colombo and New Delhi were trying to achieve.
Terrorists wreck dept building
Two armed terrorists last Friday entered the forest department
building at Kopavalai, off Eravur, in Batticaloa and having threatened
the watcher Arulanandan, did such damage to the building that its roof
and walls collapsed afterwards as a result, the media centre said.
On Saturday, forces were attacked by terrorists while searching the
forests of Morakottanchenai, at Eravur, in Batticaloa.
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Victims of
all ethnic groups at the hospital |
The troops fired back. Two terrorists were found dead in the jungle
later. One of them was identified as Mahendran of the EPRLF. Sixty-six
terrorist suspects were also arrested.
At Telipallai, on Saturday, terrorists set off a claymore mine and
shot at forces escorting 12 terrorist suspects from Tirukovil to
Akkaraipattu killing Muthulingam Nadarajah, said to be an active member
of the EPRLF. The terrorists withdrew into the jungle when the fores
returned fire.
The terrorists responsible for setting off the claymore mine have
been identified as belonging to the LTTE group.
At Buddangala, in Ampara, terrorists assaulted a motor-cyclist and
his pillion rider, robbed them of wrist watches, gold rings and cash,
and hijacked their motor cycle.
At Tirukovil, terrorists fired at forces from jungle cover.
There was an exchange and one EPRLF terrorist, Nagarajah Keerthi, was
found dead in the jungle with gunshot injuries.
Two terrorist suspects were arrested at Chenkaladi, in Batticaloa, on
Saturday.
Uma injured in road accident, PLOTE associate killed
PLOTE leader, Uma Maheswaran, was injured in a road accident in
Trinchinopoly on Saturday, a report reaching Colombo yesterday said.
One passenger riding the PLOTE vehicle was killed. This man, called
“Robert”, is believed to be one of those who broke out from the
Batticaloa prison. Other passengers in the vehicle have been injured.
One of the passengers, found armed with a revolver and 140 rounds of
ammunition, is now in police custody, the report said.
Tomorrow - Sikh terrorists seized at Golden Temple
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