Chronology Of Ltte Terror - Part 34

From the Daily News Archives:

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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.

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LTTE earns strongest condemnation of the US

Rodney Martinesz

Yet another dark episode in the country’s ethnic conflict was the brutal cold blooded slaying of eight army personnel held hostage by the LTTE in Jaffna, in retaliation for the mass suicide of prominent Tiger leaders who were captured by the Sri Lankan Navy at mid sea off the Northern shores. Not stopping there enraged tiger cadres went on a killing spree murdering two policemen at VVT and burning their bodies while brutally gunning down two Senior Officials of Lanka Cement, the Cement Corporation’s subsidiary in KKS.

This was an episode that shocked the civilised world and brought into sharp focus the perverted mindset of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran who had no compunction in ordering the massacres of unarmed servicemen and defenceless civilians. This was the first known instance where the LTTE massacred captured servicemen in their custody a trait that was to unfold in its most brutal and gory detail in the months and years to follow.

At the time nowhere in contemporary conflicts that raged between Governments and rebel forces the world over was such a heinous crime reported which perhaps earned for the LTTE the tag as the most ruthless and bloodthirsty terrorist organisation in the world.

The hapless soldiers in custody were not even allowed contact with their relatives but were lined up and mercilessly gunned down on the orders of Prabhakaran on October 5, 1987 that triggered off events which for the first time since the Indo-Lanka Accord brought out the IPKF to battle the Tigers.

The mass killings of the LTTE also earned the strongest condemnation of the US which urged India to put an end to the killing of civilians.

This massacre even made the hitherto most gruesome attacks carried against defenceless civilians pale into insignificance for its cold blooded ruthlessness.

The mass killing sprees of civilians by the LTTE during this period reached an all-time high which even prompted the TULF and the ALL Ceylon Tamil Congress well known Tiger surrogates to call a halt to the these massacres. In addition an LTTE office in Batticaloa was burnt by outraged people in a clear demonstration of the growing horror and resentment of the people of the group’s brutality during the preceding days.

But the unending killing spree was to continue with whole villages and hamlets being wiped out with a maniacal fury on the orders of the Tiger leader retaliating to loss of his top military commanders.

The LTTE leader was obviously smarting by the loss of its frontline leaders such as Kumarappan and Pullendran, the latter responsible for leading many a Tiger massacre.

Twelve LTTEers were captured on the high seas off the North by the Sri Lankan Navy. It was certainly a prize catch as they comprised the cream of the LTTE fighters and the National Security Minister Lalith Athulathmudali was determined not to let go of the opportunity despite Indian pressure for their release in keeping with an on going ceasefire following the Peace Accord.

Wednesday October 7, 1987

Soldier hostages, Lanka Cement chiefs, police, brutally killed for mass suicide by LTTE cadres:

Murderous revenge by Tigers in Jaffna

Eight soldiers held prisoner in Jaffna by the LTTE for the past several months were brutally murdered and their bodies dumped near the Jaffna bus stand early yesterday morning, in bus stand early yesterday morning, in an apparent reaction to the cyanide suicides of a dozen LTTE cadres the previous day, military sources said.

In what observers regarded as a clear attempt by the Tigers to sabotage the peace accord, the LTTE also went on a killing spree, murdering two policemen at Velvettiturai and burning their bodies and also brutally murdering two senior officials of Lanka Cement, the Cement Corporation’s subsidiary at Kankesanturai.

This was followed up by an attack yesterday morning on a roadblock at Vavuniya, when a policeman was killed. Military sources said the previous evening an army vehicle diving from Point Pedro to Velvettiturai had been fired at and four soldiers were critically injured. They had been flown to Sri Jayewardenepura for emergency treatment.

The soldiers the LTTE murdered had been taken prisoner at the Pannai causeway on March 23 and during the attack on the Jaffna telecommunications building on June 6. Negotiations had been on to obtain their release via a prisoner swap.

The Lanka, Cement officials, Mr. M. D. J. S. Jayamanne (50), the company’s general manager, and Mr. Gamini Gajanayake (30), the deputy general manager had been gunned down at the Kankesanturai factory as they routinely inspected the production facility.

Mr. Jayamanne was a mechanical engineer who had served the Cement Corporation at its Puttalam factory as its works manager, before moving to Lanka Cement at Kankesanturai.

His deputy, Mr. Gajanayake was a qualified accountant.

The seventeen Tigers arrested last Saturday by the Sri Lanka Navy off the Velvettiturai coast, aborad a radar-equipped trawler fitted with machinerguns, were taken to Palaly base where they had been in custody, according to police.

A Colombo-datelined AFP report said that they had been allowed visitors.

Authoritative official sources said that the 17, including Kumarappa, the LTTE’s Jaffna commander, and Pulendran, the Trincomalee leader were to be flown to Colombo, when they had swallowed the cyanide capsules which had apparently been smuggled in to them. Twelve died in the mass suicide while five survived.

These sources said the authorities in Colombo had been pressing that these men be quickly flown down and an aircraft had been sent for them. But the LTTE had been pushing the IPKF to hold them in Jaffna and release them. They had claimed they were unarmed and on a fishing expedition.

Twelve of those who swallowed the cyanide died, while five lives were saved. In New Delhi, India said she “deeply regretted the incident” while discussions were on to secure their release. The Indian spokesman said that Delhi also regretted the Colombo Government’s decision to fly them from Jaffna to Colombo while these discussions were proceeding.

The LTTE said the Madras that the 17 arrested had written to Prabhakaran saying they were prepared for self-annihilation in the eventuality of their being transported to Colombo.

Meanwhile, according to unconfirmed reports reaching Colombo last night, a Jaffna resident had said that the bodies of the tow Lanka Cement officials had been handed over to the General Hospital, Jaffna and that this was conveyed to the Army camp at Jaffna Fort. In Jaffna the Tigers were reported to be preparing to launch a satyragraha campaign. They are reported to have threatened the public to join their campaign at gunpoint.

Armed terrorists were also reported to be going about in vans, tractors and buses. They exploded bombs to frighten those who were not joining their satyragraha campaign.

Swift official reaction to murderous overnight rampage in which terrorists take 142 lives:

India, Lanka join forces to halt Tiger massacres in EP

William de Alwis

The Governments of India and Sri Lanka yesterday reacted swiftly to a killing spree launched by the LTTE in the Eastern Province, taking steps for joint patrolling of the affected areas by the Sri Lankan Security Forces and the IPKF.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army’s Southern Command, Lt. General Depinder Singh was in Trincomalee yesterday, on the orders of his government, to co-ordinate operations with the Commander of Sri Lanka’s Joint Operations Command, General Cyril Ranatunge. Official sources said a smoother working arrangement between the two forces has now been worked out.

Operations

In Batticaloa, which was the hardest hit by the LTTE during the 12-hours ending yesterday morning, the Co-ordinating Officer, Superintendent of Police Nimal de Silva said: “We are working together, but I believe more of our men should be involved in the operations.

People with greater knowledge of the terrain, like our Special Task Force, can be invaluable in the type of fire-fight we will have to face.” Senior officials stressed that the need of the hour was that the people of the south should act with wisdom and sanity and ensure that there was no 1983-style backlash in reaction to the tragic events in the East.

Foolishness

“The best way the country can help the authorities to restore law and order in the troubled areas is for people to get about their normal business without being provoked into the foolishness that the LTTE would like to see”, one senior official said.

“Any person who commits arson, causes damage to property or hinders the implementation of the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord will be severely dealt with”, a Government spokesman said.

Over 150 were killed in the Eastern Province in the twelve hours ending at 8 a.m. yesterday, when LTTE gunmen unleashed a reign of terror on the province’s residents from Pottuvil in the far south to Trincomalee and a few miles further north.

Among the dead were six soldiers killed by a landmine at Vakarai on the borders of the Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa districts. Ten soldiers were wounded in this attack, three of them critically.

Batticaloa was the worst hit and the death toll in that district alone was estimated at 85. Forty of the dead were passengers of the night mail to Colombo, which was attacked and set fire to at the Batticaloa railway station.

Dissociation

Even LTTE area men were quick to dissociate themselves from the killings which they lamely blamed on rival groups and the ‘police’.

What they are smarting about most is that the killers were members of their own group who descended on their districts from outside and left soon after the bloodshed.

Other areas worst affected were Lahugala, a few miles from Pottuvil, where a bus was set on fire after its 20 passengers had been killed; Sagarapura near Padaviya, where 27 farmers were shot dead; a fishing wadiya in Eravur, where 25 were killed; and Palloruwa, near Vavuniya, where three died. A later report said that five persons riding motorcycles had also been murdered by terrorists at Lahugala.

Generations

In Batticaloa town, witnesses said the LTTE hit men killed 17 Sinhala residents who had been living in the area for generations.

The dead included Martin Mudalali and Siripala Mudalali. Martin Mudalali was a jeweller who had lived in Batticaloa from birth. Siripala Mudalali was also a resident of long standing. Both were respected members of the Batticaloa community, residents said.

The LTTE killer squads seemed to have gone into hiding at daybreak, but they apparently laid a few landmines in lonely stretches of East Coast road, officials said.

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Tomorrow - Killing of Indian paratroopers

Yesterday - Sunday bloodbath in Eastern Province