CHRONOLOGY OF LTTE TERROR- Part 76

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 terror attacks continue during CFA

Wijitha NAKKAWITA

The continuing violation of the Cease-Fire Agreement signed between the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government in 2002 with the LTTE terrorist group for six years was now a reminder that the terrorists had become so confident that their objectives could be realized only by unleashing terror on the people at large in the country and anyone even with average intelligence could understand that the only way to end the bloodletting was to defeat the terrorist outfit completely in battle.

During the earlier two weeks of the month of January the LTTE assassinated two prominent politicians on both sides of the political dichotomy and probably the leader Prabhakaran would have been gloating over the successes achieved by his cadres so far.

It was now the third week of January when a group of terrorist cadres who had fled after facing continuing defeats at the hands of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces especially in the East had infiltrated through jungles to Moneragala District.

As usual hiding in the wooded rural areas they set up a claymore bomb on a tree to target a passing bus. In the morning the packed bus with office workers, schoolchildren and the like was at Okkampitiya, a village nestled among jungle and shrubs when the terrorist band set off the claymore hitting the bus directly. When the bus came to an abrupt halt after the explosion, some of those who were not injured or killed rushed out of the bus but only to face the terrorists who fired at the running men, women and children.

By the time the gory attack was over 26 people were killed while 63 were injured. In yet another blast at the same locality, three soldiers were killed while three civilians were injured. The fleeing terrorists later shot dead a farmer in a remote hamlet near Buttala and injured three others bringing the number of victims to nearly 100.

At this time the Government told the UN Commissioner of Human Rights about the continuing violations of the ceasefire agreement by the LTTE and the unabated attack on unarmed civilians including children but the international community and some of the opposition members in Sri Lanka seemed to be blind to the danger posed by the ruthless terrorist group.

The LTTE had not changed it's methods of terror and sabotage and would not decide to accept any proposal for peace whether brokered by their former or present allies abroad and the efforts of most leaders to invite them to the negotiation table would prove a fruitless exercise as time would prove.

Wednesday January 9, 2008:

Minister Dassanayake killed in claymore blast

Ranil WIJAYAPALA and Rafik JALALDEEN

The LTTE continued its violence campaign killing Puttalam district MP and Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake in a claymore mine blast at Rukmani Devi Junction, Ja-ela yesterday.

Minister Dassanayake who sustained serious injuries in the mine blast succumbed at the Colombo North Teaching Hospital around 12.30 p.m. nearly one and a half hours after he was admitted to hospital and taken for immediate surgery, hospital authorities said. "The Minister succumbed due to internal haemorrhage and head injuries caused due to shrapnel," Deputy Director of the Colombo North Teaching Hospital Lalani Gurusinghe said. "A personal bodyguard of the Minister also succumbed later as two people in serious condition were transferred to the Colombo National Hospital for further treatment," she added.

According to Police and hospital authorities 13 people including the personal bodyguard travelling along with the Minister and seven civilians were injured in the incident were admitted to Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama. The white Land Cruiser jeep in which Dassanayake was travelling along with five of his bodyguards was hit by the claymore mine believed to be planted on the pavement at Rukmanee Devi Junction, Ja-ela yesterday around 10.45 a.m.

A Labour Ministry vehicle plying towards Katunayake was also caught in the mine blast injuring several in the vehicle.

"It is confirmed that the claymore mine targeted Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake," Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told the Daily News. However, Police Spokesman Senior DIG M.K. Illangakoon told the Daily News that Police are conducting investigations to ascertain whether the claymore mine has been planted targeting Minister D.M. Dassanayake or any other VIP. This is the second claymore mine triggered off by the LTTE this year outside the Jaffna peninsula and the Vanni. He is the second MP killed this year after the assassination of Colombo district UNP MP T. Maheshwaran by a gunman at the dawn of 2008, at Sivam Kovil, Kotahena.

Wednesday January 9, 2008;

Man with a common touch

Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake was 54 years when he died yesterday in Ja-ela.

Born on April 29, 1953, Dassanayake had primary education at the Andigama Government school and the Pallegama Maha Vidyalaya. He passed his Advanced Level Examination at Ananda Maha Vidyalaya, Chilaw.

He was a father of one.

Prior to entering active politics he served as a field assistant at the Pallegama Agrarian Services Centre. As an active member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Dassanayake entered Parliament in 1994 under the People's Alliance ticket obtaining 39,793 preferential votes. He came fourth in the PA list.

A man with a common touch, Dassanayake made his way to Parliament serving the common masses posing a challenge to violence-marred politics in the Puttalam district.

Since 1994 he represented the Parliament and held Deputy Ministerial portfolios and Non Cabinet Ministerial portfolios including Deputy Minister of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in the North and East. He actively participated in the implementation of North-East resettlement programs.

Dassanayake addressed the grassroots level problems confronted by the people in Puttalam, which is a comparatively less developed district.

His main target was to provide Puttalam residents specially those from Anamaduwa with basic infrastructure facilities like drinking water, sanitary facilities, health and education which were the burning issues at the time he first entered Parliament representing Anamaduwa electorate.

The nature of his firebrand politics always made him a controversial figure in contemporary politics but always won the hearts and minds of the people as he genuinely aspired to develop the Puttalam district. (RW)

Wednesday January 9, 2008:

President calls for unity against terror

The assassination of Minister D.M. Dassanayake deserves the most vehement and unequivocal condemnation by all those who respect democracy, desire peace and value human life.

His assassination in a claymore mind attack by the LTTE is yet another example of its continued commitment to terror and violence to achieve its separatists goals, and absolute contempt and disregard for human values and the policies and practices of democracy. This sad event is a further reminder of the need to redouble our efforts to rid our country of terrorism and the use of violence to achieve political ends.

It also draws attention to the constant threats faced by all those who stand for the democratic way of life from the forces of terror that have been strengthened for too long through the politics of appeasement. It is no accident that Minister Dassanayaka who was targeted in this cowardly attack was spearheading the work of rehabilitation and reconstruction in the Eastern Province, since its liberation from the clutches of the LTTE by the Armed Forces.

As State Minister for Nation Building, he made it his mission to restore normalcy to the lives of all of our people in the Eastern Province, irrespective of ethnicity or religion, who had been living under the oppressive yoke of the terrorist LTTE for nearly two decades. His assassination shows that such work on behalf of the people invites the hatred of the forces of violence and terror, and gives the lie to the LTTE's claim that it is the liberator of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. Minister Dassanayake was also an exceptional representative of the people of Wayamba - the North Western Province - who was always in the forefront of activity on behalf of the rights of the people, especially in his electorate of Anamaduwa and adjacent areas. He was one who saw much development take place in the area and was respected by the people for his work as a political activist and Member of Parliament of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. The large community of Muslim people driven out of Jaffna by the LTTE in 1990 in one of its worst acts of ethnic cleansing, who are now settled in camps in the Puttalam district, found in Minister Dassanayaka a close friend and indefatigable worker on their behalf, and his work among them showed his ability to rise above divisions of community and faith.

His assassination should be a further call for unity by all who stand for freedom and democracy to come together, shedding petty political or other differences, to decidedly defeat terrorism in our country.

I extend my heartfelt condolences to his wife Indrani and daughter in their hour of immeasurable grief, and my sympathies to the people of Anamaduwa at the tragic loss of a worthy representative. May he attain the Bliss of Nirvana!

Thursday, January 3, 2008:

Four killed in claymore attack on Army bus

Rafik JALALDEEN

A claymore mine targeting an Army bus exploded in front of Nippon Hotel, Slave Island yesterday, killing four persons including two schoolchildren and injuring 24 others.

Three civilians and a soldier were killed when the claymore mine went off around 9.30 a.m., Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

"The Army bus plying from Army Headquarters to the Narahenpita Hospital carrying 13 soldiers was targeted by the LTTE," he added.

Director of Colombo National Hospital Accident Service Dr. Anil Jasinghe said 28 persons were admitted to the hospital from the blast site and four of them died before admission including a female civilian.

"Four critically injured were treated at the Intensive Care Unit and the rest who suffered minor injuries were treated in wards 72 and 73," he told the Daily News. Preliminary investigations revealed the claymore mine was placed inside the external unit of an air-conditioner of the Nippon Hotel. "The Army bus and part of the Nippon Hotel were severely damaged in the explosion.

A three-wheeler parked near the sidewalk and several other vehicles passing by were damaged," Police Media spokesman Senior DIG N.K. Ilangakoon said.

The road was closed and security was beefed up in the area. "A cordon and search operation was launched by Police jointly with the Security Forces in the area and the situation was brought under control," DIG Ilangakoon added. The Government Analyst's experts assessed that the remote-controlled bomb probably weighed four killogrammes.

DIG Ilangakoon pointed out that three civilian victims were passing by in the street while the bomb went off. They were relatives returning from a funeral. The victims had been identified as M.L. Bandara (15), Pethum Disanayaka (16), Renuka Krishanthi (42) and Jayantha Kumara (soldier).

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Yesterday: Maheshwaran killing: Gunman arrested

Monday: 26 killed as Tiger claymore hits bus

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