English Archives 2008

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Tamil Tigers Abuse Civilians in Stronghold
Human Rights Watch said in a report released today


(Lanka-e-News, December 14, 2008, 11.45 PM)Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tigers are subjecting ethnic Tamils in their northern stronghold, the Vanni, to forced recruitment, abusive forced labor, and restrictions on movement that place their lives at risk, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. (15)

The 17-page report, "Trapped and Mistreated: LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni," details how the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which have been fighting for an independent Tamil state for 25 years, are brutally abusing the Tamil population in areas under their control.
"The LTTE claims to be fighting for the Tamil people, but it is responsible for much of the suffering of civilians in the Vanni," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "As the LTTE loses ground to advancing government forces, their treatment of the very people they say they are fighting for is getting worse."
In the face of an ongoing government military offensive, the LTTE has increased the pressure on the civilian population under its control. Having long used a coercive pass system to prevent civilians from leaving areas it controls, the LTTE has now completely prohibited movement out of the Vanni, except for some medical emergencies. By refusing to allow displaced persons to leave for government-held territory, the group has severely restricted their access to essential humanitarian relief. Only about a thousand people have managed to flee the conflict zone since March 2008."By refusing to allow people their basic rights to freedom of movement, the LTTE has trapped hundreds of thousands of civilians in a dangerous war zone," said Adams.

The LTTE has a long history of forced recruitment. There has been a dramatic increase in the practice of compelling young men and women, including children, to join their forces. The group has recently gone beyond its long-standing "one person per family" forced recruitment policy in the territory it controls and now sometimes requires two or more family members to join its ranks.

"Trapped in the LTTE's iron fist, ordinary Tamils are forcibly recruited as fighters and forced to engage in dangerous labor near the front lines," said Adams.
While increased international pressure and other factors had led to a decrease in its recruitment of children, recent reports indicate that the group has stepped up child recruitment in the Vanni. LTTE cadres have urged 14- to 18-year-olds at schools to join. The group often sends 17-year-olds for military training, apparently calculating that by the time such cases are reported to protection agencies, the youths will have turned 18 and no longer be considered child soldiers.

"Last year they were taking the people born in 1990 - now those born in 1991," a humanitarian official from the Vanni told Human Rights Watch. "They look at the family identity cards and take the young ones. If people of military age go into hiding, they will take younger children or the father, until they get the boys or girls they want."

During the past 25 years, the LTTE has killed large numbers of civilians, committed political assassinations in Sri Lanka and abroad, and carried out suicide bombings. It has systematically eliminated most political opposition within the minority Tamil community and is responsible for killing many journalists and members of rival organizations. In the areas under its control, the LTTE has ruled through fear, denying basic freedoms of expression, association, assembly, and movement.
In "Trapped and Mistreated," Human Rights Watch calls upon the LTTE to:

• Stop preventing civilians from leaving areas under its control; respect the right to freedom of movement of civilians, including the right of civilians to move to government-controlled territory for safety;
• Stop all forced recruitment into the LTTE; end all abductions and coercion;
• End all recruitment of children under the age of 18; cease the use of children in military operations; release all child combatants currently in its ranks, as well as all persons who were recruited when children but are now over the age of 18;
• Stop all abusive or unpaid forced labor, including labor it characterizes as "voluntary"; cease demanding that all families provide labor to the LTTE; stop forcing civilians to engage in labor directly related to the conduct of military operations, such as constructing trenches and bunkers;
• Provide humanitarian agencies and UN agencies safe and unhindered access to areas under the LTTE's control, and guarantee the security of all humanitarian and UN workers, including Vanni residents working as humanitarian or UN staff.

 

 

Tamil Tiger Links with Islamist Terrorist Groups
by Shanaka Jayasekara


The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is known to have an active presence in several informal sectors such as credit card cloning, money laundering and human smuggling in Europe and North America. However, the LTTE has emerged as a formidable force and influence within the informal arms market and such has attracted collaborative arrangements with other terrorist groups. The LTTE has developed close relationships with several Islamist groups operating in such networks in a mutually beneficial manner.
In the early years of the Tamil militancy in Sri Lanka several Tamil groups received advanced military training from Palestinian factions in the Middle East. The first known contacts were established around 1978-1980 between London members of the Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS) and Syed Hameed of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) London branch. The PLO connection provided weapons training opportunities for a limited number of Tamil youth in PLO camps in Lebanon[1]. A member of the early batches that received training in 1978 from the PLO backed Al Fatah group, currently leads a Tamil political party[2]. In the period between 1980-1984, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), headed by George Habash, provided weapons training to several batches of PLOTE members (People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam) in PFLP camps located in Lebanon and Syria[3]. The Palestinian leaders provided much of the initial international exposure and support to the fledgling Tamil groups.
International expert on suicide terrorism Dr. Robert Pape, examining the proliferation of suicide operations, points out that the exposure to Lebanese training and tactics by Tamil groups influenced the adoption of suicide operations in Sri Lanka[4].
By the mid 1980s the Tamil Tigers had eliminated all other groups and emerged as the most ruthless Tamil group in Sri Lanka. It also absorbed the trained combatants of other groups. The Tamil Tigers which until then had received most of its training and weapons from the Indian Intelligence Services (RAW and Third Agency), found the experience and knowledge of Palestinian trained combatants compatible with its ruthless tactical repertoire. On the 5 July 1987 the Tamil Tigers conducted their first suicide operation. In the period between 1990 and 2000 the Tamil Tigers had conducted over 168 suicide operations[5].
Prior to the current conflict in Iraq, the LTTE carried out the largest number of suicide operations by any terrorist group. The LTTE transformed suicide operations which terrorists had considered an esteemed tactical approach used exclusively against high-value targets, to a production-line approach. The formation of a standing suicide army known as the Black Tigers is a reflection of the mass-scale production line approach of making the human bomb a common everyday weapon. The LTTE introduced the concept of "soft target suicide operations" that effectively delivered a low-cost high visibility outcome to boost the image of the group. This radically transformed the tactical nature of all future suicide operations globally. Suicide operations were less about the target, and more about building profile and augmenting the image of the group. The LTTE innovated and improved detonation devices and concealment methods contributing significantly to the advancement in the technology used for suicide operations. With the beginning of the second Intifada in Gaza and the West Bank in September 2000, the use of mass-scale "soft target suicide operations" proliferated as part of the tactical repertoire of terrorist groups in the Middle-East. Thereafter from 2004, the Jama Al Tawhid wal Jihad, headed by Sunni cleric Al Zarqawi, which later affiliated itself with the Al Qaeda and conducted the largest number of soft target suicide operations in Iraq.
The LTTE maintained close relations with the Kurdish Support Group in France in the 1990s. The European network of the LTTE was modeled largely on the diaspora support networks operated by the Kurdish groups[6]. The former head of the LTTE international office, Lawrence Thilagar received a special invitation to speak at the inauguration of the Kurdish Parliament in Exile (KPE) on 12 April 1995 in The Hague, Netherlands. It is reported that the close contact between the LTTE and PKK resulted in the LTTE acquiring 11 surface to air missiles of Greek origin from the PKK[7].
During the period 1998 -2001 the Taliban regime in Afghanistan operated a major weapons procurement operation based at the Ariana Airline office in Sharjah. Much of the military hardware that the Taliban acquired through the Sharjah network was supplied by the infamous Russian arms dealer Victor Bout also known as the Merchant of Death. Victor Bout and his business associate Sanjivan Ruprah have supplied weapons and training to several West African rebel groups and are accused of involvement in the illicit diamond trade[8]. Victor Bout operated an air cargo service at the Sharjah airport known as Air Cess, which together with Ariana Airlines co-handled most of the military deliveries between Sharjah and Afghanistan[9]. It is estimated that the Sharjah network operated 3 to 4 flights daily between Sharjah and Kandahar transporting weapons and supplies to the Taliban[10]. During this period 17km away in Dubai, the LTTE also operated a cargo company known as Otharad Cargo, headed by Daya the younger sibling of Nithi a Canadian based member of the LTTE's KP Unit. It is suspected that Otharad Cargo acquired several consignments of military hardware as part of consolidated purchase arrangements with the Taliban's Sharjah network. It was also the function of Otharad Cargo to service the operations of the LTTE shipping fleet in the Gulf region. Officials of an Asian security agency believe Kumaran Pathmanadan (KP) head of the LTTE procurement unit (KP unit) traveled from Bangkok through Karachi to Kabul on 19 May 2001 and had meetings with Taliban officials on matters relating to the Sharjah network.
Information recovered from a Laptop Computer of a LTTE procurement agent now in the custody of a Western country provided detailed information on LTTE activities in Pakistan. The LTTE had registered a front company in Karachi which had procured several consignments of weapons for the LTTE and several other Pakistani groups. A shipment of weapons procured by this front company and en-route to Sri Lankan waters was intercepted by the Sri Lanka Navy and destroyed in September 2007.
Brian Joyce in an article in the Jane's Intelligence in November 2002 on Terrorist Financing in South Asia states that the LTTE shipping fleet provided logistics support to Harakat-al Mujahideen, a Pakistani militant group with Al Qaeda affiliations to transport a consignment of weapons to the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the Philippines[11]. The LTTE used a merchant vessel registered by a front company in Lattakia, Syria until 2002 to service most of the grey/black charters.
Since the United Nations arms embargo on Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa has evolved into a major hub for the informal arms trade. In opposition to Ethiopian military support to the Transitional Government in Somalia, the Government of Eritrea is accused of providing material support to the Islamist rebels in Somalia led by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU)[12]. The Islamic Courts Union which controls areas in Southern Somalia is a constituent member of the Union of Islam (Al Ittihad al Islamiya) headed by Hassan Dahir Aweys having close affiliations with the Al Qaeda. The Bakaaraha arms market near Irtogte in South Mogadishu is considered the central distribution point for the informal arms trade in the Horn of Africa. A report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia under Security Council Resolution 1724 (2006) dated 18 July 2007, provides explicit evidence of Eritrean involvement in the transport of weapons to Somalia. The report provides evidence relating to the purchase of cargo aircraft by Eriko Enterprises in Asmara which is believed to be a front company of the Eritrean government to make regular weapons deliveries to Somalia[13]. The same company is also referred to by The London Times in a February 2007 article in which it claims to have evidence that General Tambi, of the Eritrean Defence Forces used Eriko Enterprises to charter several Antonov and Ilyusion transport aircraft from Aerolift Aviation to move large quantities of men and material to Somalia[14]. In addition, the UN report also states that the Eritrean government delivered a consignment of six SA-18 surface-to-air missiles to the Islamic Court Union in Somalia.
Eritrea has emerged as a major transshipment point and sanctuary for key players in the informal arms trade. The LTTE established a presence in Eritrea primarily to operate in the informal arms market. It is believed the LTTE maintains regular interactions with many armed groups including groups affiliated to the Al Qaeda operating in the Eritrean Network. The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee report dated 15 December 2006, explicitly stated that the Government of Eritrea provides direct support to the LTTE[15]. The Eritrean connection is extremely important to the LTTE, in fact LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran sent a personally signed fax to President Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea on 24 May 2006, communicating directly with a Head of State[16]. President Afewerki, prior to the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993 led the Eritrea People's Liberation Front (EPLF) a rebel movement for the independence of Eritrea.
The UN report also indicates that most of the weapons flights to Somalia originate from the port city of Massawa in Eritrea. The report documents several Aerogem Aviation aircraft operated by Fab Air making regular deliveries to Somalia[17]. The LTTE shipping fleet is known to have a presence in several East African ports. In fact, on 23 May 1997, the LTTE vessel MV Limassol took delivery of a consignment of Motars from Zimbabwe Defence Industries at the Port of Beira in Mozambique [18]. The sea access from Massawa port in Eritrea provides convenient shipping facilities for the LTTE to transport weapons to international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka.
The LTTE had established a longstanding business relationship with Islamic groups in the Philippines. In 1990s, LTTE procurement agent Dharmakulaseelan was responsible for transferring funds from Canada to the Philippines for the procurement of specialized weapons[19]. Dr. Rohan Gunarantna in an article in the Jane's Intelligence in July 2001 on Islamist Rebels in the Philippines states that the LTTE sent two Combat Tacticians and Explosive Experts to Southern Philippines to train members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)[20]. In April 2007, Police Supt. Rodolfo Mendoza, of the Philippines Police stated that intelligence reports had alerted the Philippine authorities to several Tamil Tiger members visiting Abu Sayyaf camps in Southern Mindanao[21].
Unlike in Europe and North America, LTTE front organizations have not actively engaged in publicly mobilizing the Tamil expatriate community in the Middle East. This was mainly due to the less permissive environment and low tolerance regimes in the region. However, over the last two years LTTE members in Qatar have engaged in regular fundraising events. In November 2007, the LTTE cell in Qatar held a public celebration for LTTE Heroes Day in the Ar-Rayyan area in Doha. The LTTE members are also involved in violent intimidation of dissident Tamil supporters in Qatar. It is alleged that LTTE member Sukasan had brutally murdered a member of the Karuna Group in Sanya, Doha in February 2006 [22]. The LTTE has also established an embryonic cell to promote fundraising and shipping activity in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Conclusion
The links between the Islamist terrorist groups and the LTTE are not driven by ideological compatibility, but by the need to influence factors of pricing and convenience in the informal arms market. In most cases the LTTE has developed links with Islamist groups to organize consolidated purchasing opportunities. The LTTE with an annual budget of US$ 200-300 million, supported by an institutionalized procurement network, diaspora based technical expertise and a shipping fleet is a valued partner to other terrorist groups in negotiating procurement deals. The LTTE has the capacity to provide logistical support and facilitate training to partner entities. The LTTE has used its shipping fleet and technical expertise for the delivery of weapons and transfer of competencies most often driven by financial motives and lucrative commercial opportunities. (ENDS)
Courtesy: International Institute for Counter-Terrorism ( From journal LANKAENEWS 17.12.2008 )
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Footnotes:
[1] Gunaratna., Rohan, Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka, 1994, South Asian Network on Conflict Research, Colombo. (p137)

[2] EPDP Official website –Biography Section

[3] Gunaratna., Rohan, Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka, 1994, South Asian Network on Conflict Research, Colombo. (p156)

[4] Pape., Robert, Dying to Win : the Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, 2005, Random House, New York. (p142)

[5] Rohan Gunaratna, Suicide Terrorism : A Global Threat, Jane’s Intelligence (20 October 2000)

[6] Gunaratna., Rohan, Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Crisis and National Security, 1998, South Asia Network on Conflict Research, Colombo. (p243)

[7] Anthony David, Proliferation of Stingers in Sri Lanka, Jane’s Intelligence Review (01 September 1998)

[8] Farah., Douglas & Braun., Stephen, Merchant of Death, 2007, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New Jersey. (p156)

[9] ibid (p117-136)

[10] Gunaratna, Rohan, Inside Al Qaeda, 2002, Berkley Books, New York. (p189)

[11] Brian Joyce, Terrorist Financing in South East Asia, Jane’s Intelligence Review (01 November 2002)

[12] UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, Overview of DDR Process in Africa, 14 June 2007 (p13)

[13] Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1724 (2006) dated 18 July 2007 (p9).

[14] Jon Swain and Brian Johnson-Thomas, UK Sunday Times (18 February 2007)
[15] Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report, 15 December 2006 (p16)

[16] Copy of the Fax is available with an Asian security agency.

[17] Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1724 (2006) dated 18 July 2007 (p38).

[18] Vijay Sakhuja, The Dynamics of LTTE’s Commercial maritime Infrastructure, Observer Research Foundation, April 2006 (p5)

[19] Peter Chalk, CSIS Preliminary Analysis of the LTTE (Commentry No 77), 17 March 2000

[20] Rohan Gunaratna, Evolution and Tactics of the Abu Sayyaf Group, Jane’s Intelligence, 01 July 2001

[21] Cynthia Balana,Tamil Rebels sent Arms to Abus, The Inquirer (Manila), 08 April 2007

[22] Asian Tribune, News Report dated 8 February 2006 -

 

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Who can say that there is no democracy in Sri lanka? Who can say that the Sinhalese are racist?

Who can claim that there is violation of human rights from Sri Lanka gouvernement?

Why some western countries they are helping the LTTE terrorists?

Why do some NGOs oppose the Chinese policy, but they are (NGO) helping to the LTTE terrorists?

 

Mr. Pillaiyan who was previously the side of LTTE Tamil terrorists against the government as No. 2 east side.

On 10 May 2008, took place provincial elections in the east, following its release of the LTTE by the Sri Lankan army.

The Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims have been allowed to vote. According to the results, Chief Minister is appointed Mr. Pillaiyan which was previously part of the LTTE against the government as No. 2 east side.

After a disagreement with Prabhakaran (LTTE leader), Mr. Pillaiyan er Mr Karuna (former No. 1 LTTE) have signed peace with the government and joined the Sri Lankan army against the LTTE because they understood that some Western countries were linked with the LTTE. Both men have revealed all the secrets between the LTTE and some western countries including Norway. Many NGOs also assist terrorists.

During these elections, no representative Sinhalese has wished to present to this post, hoping that it is a Tamil or a Muslim who is elected. The Sinhalese want to show that they are not racists.

Before taking up his ministerial duties, he apologized and asked his blessing to the two largest Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka, like other democratically elected politicians. He apologized for having damaged the temple at Kandy in a bomb laid by the LTTE Tamil.

Mr. Pillaiyan voting on election day on May 10, 2008.

Here are the photos of Mr. Pillaiyan, when he took his post as head of the ministerial east

Below are the Muslims who were also elected as ministers from the east

The emblem of the party of Mr. Pillaiyan, the party TVMP is this flag that looks like the Tigers with the exception of weapons that were remplacéers by a wrist hands.

Flag of Sri Lanka

Emblem of the Party TVMP

Emblem of the LTTE

Meaning flag Sri Lankans: left, green vertical stripe (Muslims) and orange (Tamil). On the right, wearing a yellow lion sword (authority) on the bottom and brown leaves 4 (Buddhist symbols) (1978)

The flag of TVMP proves that there is democracy in relation to the LTTE. How can democracy exist with this flag bearing weapons and bullets? So why some countries want to help these terrorists?


 

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The agreement Sirima-Shastri about Sri Lankan Tamils (30.10.1964)

The English colonization and its consequences in the World

Sirimavo Bandaranaïke

Premier ministre of Sri-Lanka from 1960 to 1965; from 1970 to 1977 ; from 1994 to 2000

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Premier ministre of India

9 June 1964 – 11 January 1966


During the colonistaion English in Sri Lanka, the English took the lands of Sinhalese peasants asking them to work for them by cultivating tea, coffee and rubber. These farmers have refused this request, the English have caused India a labor Tamil.

Before the agreement "Sirima-Shastri", there were 975,000 undocumented Tamil in Sri Lanka.

In 1948, a law Indo-Pakistan a permit in 1964 to create the Sirima-Shastri agreement in Sri Lanka which has enabled some 525,000 Tamils to return to India and 300,000 were naturalized Sri Lanka. It should remain approximately 150,000 undocumented Tamil in Sri Lanka.

Until 1964, no solution has been found about those without papers:

-- In 1940, D.S Senanayeke endiscute with India

-- 1947-1948, he rediscute with Nehru-1948, Dadly Senanayeke and Nehru in reparlent

-- 1954, Sir John Kotelawa Nehru and try to find a solution, but without results.

S.W.P.D. Bandaranaïke was assassinated in 1959. In 1960, his wife Sirimavo Bandaranaïke, became Prime Minister, will participate in September 1961 summit in Belgrade where she was appreciated by other governments. In 1962, 1 Minister of India, Nehru came to Sri Lanka to resume the discussion about Tamil but due to problems at the border between India and China, discussions were interrupted.

Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded Nehru as Prime Minister. From 24 to 29 October 1964, the discussion between Mr and Mrs Bandaranaïke Shastri has been positive. October 30, 1964, the agreement "Sirima-Shastri" was signed. At that time 975,000 Tamils were undocumented, Tamil 300,000 were accepted by Sri Lanka and 525,000 were accepted by India to go back over fifteen years. It remains 150,000 Tamil whose status should be decided later.

(Article excerpt of the famous newspaper Lankadeepa / / translated by AHFESL) (le 17.05.2008)

 

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2008 April 25

A bus bomb blast at Piliyandala , 24 killed over 40 wounded
(Lanka-e-News, 10.30 PM -3rd Edition) A bomb exploded in a parked passenger bus at Piliyandala junction bus stand around 6.45 PM today (25) killing 24 civilians including a Buddhist monk and injuring 40 people. The ill fated Central Transport Board bus was a route number 157 Kahapola-Piliyandala bus.
Police Media Spokesman Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police N.K. Ilangakoon said to Lanka-e-News that the number of dead were 19 and 40 persons were hospitalized.

Piliyandala hospital sources said that out of the 10 bodies brought to the hospital, five had been identified. The names of the identified persons were Suranga Fernando, Ishara Amarasinghe, R.M. Asha Rajapakse, Rashika Nishanthi and Wepathaira Gnanananda Thero.
The bomb exploded as the bus was about to start the journey. Over 100 passengers were in the bus by the time. The bus and the surrounding was heavily damaged due to the blast. Details of the injured person will follow.
Photo and report by Shantha Wijesuriya

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Madhu church captured by Army

(Lanka-e-News, 2008 April 25, 2.45 PM) Army Commander Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara announced that the security forces captured the Our Lady of Madhu church and the surrounding area this morning (25).
The priests of the church shifted the sacred statue of Our Lady of Madhu further inside LTTE territory for safety at the beginning of this month as the Army was advancing towards the church. *

Lanka-e-News sources in North said that the Army entered Madu shrine area after the LTTE retreated without fighting in the church premises.
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara further said that 28 of the 33 disappeared Army personnel were dead and the LTTE handed over their bodies via International Committee of Red Cross.
Picture curtsy by: Ruwan ferdinandas

24 people have been reported killed in the cowardly bomb attack carried out by LTTE terrorists targeting innocent civilians who were returning home after office hours at Pliyandala this evening. Over 40 people have suffered injuries.

The explosion occurred when the bus was about to leave to Kahapola from Piliyandala bus stand.

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2008.04.24

100 terrorists killed while 43 soldiers killed & 33 missing!

Over 100 tiger terrorists including 15 senior terrorists were killed in fierce fighting that lasted for 11hours between S.L. Army and tiger terrorists in the narrow and open land stretches at Muhamale and Kilaly in Jaffna yesterday (23rd) says Media Centre for National Security (MCNS). 43 soldiers made the supreme sacrifice trying to defend the Motherland.

120 soldiers had suffered injuries and those in serious conditions have been air lifted to Colombo. According to reports, the injured have been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital, Sri Jayawardenapura and the Eye Hospital. According to MCNS 33 soldiers have gone missing following the confrontations and search operations are continuing along the tensed battle lines at Muhamale and Kilaly.

Tiger fighting formations have been driven some 500m back from its initial positions as troops mounted heavy resistance attacks, thwarting a pre-dawn LTTE offensive attempt

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2008 April 5

Suicide bomb attack in Weliweriya: Minister Jeyaraj and other 14 Killed, 83 injured

(Lanka e-news, 6th April 2008, 9.00 pm, 4th edition) Mr. Jeyeraj Fernandopulle, Minister of Highways killed in a bomb explosion in Weliweriya today (6th) around 7.40am. 14 other people were killed and 83 injured due to this explosion and the National Athlete Coach, Mr. Lakshman De Alwis was also among the victims.

Minister Fernandopulle was the Chief Guest of the National Marathon which was scheduled to start today morning from Weliweriya Kanthi Sports Ground and he was ready to give the signal to start the marathon when the bomb exploded.

Mr. Nuwan, an eye witness told Lanka-e-News that Veteran Marathon Runner, K. Karunaratne (Marathon Karu) was handed over the National Flag to the Minister to start the event and the bomb exploded before the signal was given by the Minister. Marathon Karu was also killed on the spot together with Minister and others. Further, he stated that body parts were scattered all over the place and large number of people were injured due to this explosion.

Minister, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle says 'Good Bye' to the parliament

(Lanka-e-News, 5.30 PM) Minister of Highways, Mr. Jeyeraf Fernandopulle, a controversial character, acting the role of Member of Parliament, Minister and Chief Organizer of the ruling party for 19 years continuously, and a marvelous debater in the Parliament said good bye to his parliament buddies today (7th) forever.

The casket of Mr. Fernandopulle was brought to the parliament from his official residence in the morning and the Speaker of the parliament, Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition together with all other MPs of both sides accepted the casket. President Mahinda Rajapakshe was also there in the parliament.

The photographs show

Pix- Sudath Silva ( Lankaenews + Lankatruth +Lakbima + etc... )

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Summary

 

ASIANTRIBUNE

www.asiantribune.com

 

DAILYNEWS

www.dailynews.lk

ISLAND

LANKA TRUTH

www.lankatruth.com

THE SUNDAY LEADER

www.thesundayleader.lk

 

SUNDAY TIMES

www.sundaytimes.lk

 

"lK¡m"

http://www.lakbima.com

"lAk`Ùp"

http://www.lankadeepa.lk

"Øvûn"

http://www.divaina.com

"lAk` I ÎVS"

http://www.lankaenews.com

"âUÉz"

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Journal Tamouls

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