South Asia - Sri Lanka | May 2008

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 News Briefs

Targetting the LTTE’s Global Network   Batticaloa: An Uncertain Restoration

Targetting the LTTE’s Global Network

Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

A global onslaught against the international network of front organisations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) appears to be coinciding with the domestic reverses the rebels are suffering within Sri Lanka. Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, France and the United States (US), which account for the major chunk of the roughly 750,000 strong Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora, and from where the outfit accrues its greatest financial and propaganda support, have taken stern action against LTTE proxies, severely affecting the Tigers capacities in their ‘final war of liberation’.

The LTTE, which opened its first overseas office in London in 1984, has its front organizations now operating from countries that also include India, Botswana, Burma, Cambodia, Denmark, Germany, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Qatar, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand, to name a few. The Washington Times, on April 7, 2008 reported that the LTTE’s political wing had established its branches in at least 12 countries, including the US. Veerakathy Manivannam aka Castro is the Head of the LTTE’s ‘International Secretariat’, the body which ensures the smooth functioning of the group’s global network.

The LTTE’s global activities can broadly be summarized into three principal categories: fundraising; arms procurement and shipping, and publicity and propaganda. Though each of these tasks invariably overlaps, there is a significant autonomy of operation in each.

The LTTE has created front organizations in about 50 countries across the globe, and most significant among these organizations include the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations; the Swiss Federation of Tamil Associations; the French Federation of Tamil Associations; the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils; the Illankai Tamil Sangam in the US; the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee in Norway and the International Federation of Tamils in the UK. These fronts also form sympathetic pressure groups and media units to harness political and economic support for the outfit from the politicians and human rights activists in the respective countries. They bring out or operate numerous magazines, radio and TV stations; carry out public demonstrations, display LTTE flags and emblems as well as photographs of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and other leaders, sell and distribute literature glorifying the LTTE struggle and suicide attacks, and engage in publicity and propaganda among Tamil Diaspora to harness support and contributions.

Thus, as the LTTE came under tremendous pressure at home, pro-LTTE Tamil groups in Britain launched a campaign to highlight the ‘suffering’ of Tamils in Sri Lanka, with a protest outside Downing Street on February 24, 2008. Earlier, on January 16, Britain’s leading Tamil organisation, the British Tamils Forum, called for a boycott of Sri Lankan Airlines in a move to target the Sri Lankan economy, as part of their campaign for a separate Tamil homeland. On January 1, a calendar apparently depicting the logo of the LTTE and the map of a separate state of ‘Tamil Eelam’ was sold outside Hindu temples in London. According to an August 22, 2007, report, Tamil broadcasters in Australia glorify the LTTE and its chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and also engage in fundraising.

The LTTE has secured the support of several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in these countries through its persistent publicity and propaganda campaigns. Prominent NGOs who have extended support include the Canadian Relief Organization for Peace in Sri Lanka, International Educational Development Inc., the World Council of Churches, the Australian Human Rights Foundation, the International Human Rights Group, the International Federation of Journalists (Pax Romana), the International Peace Bureau, the International Human Rights Law Group and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights.

These activities are, of course, subordinate to the principal objective of the ‘International Secretariat’: to generate maximum financial resources to support the LTTE’s ‘final war’ in Sri Lanka. The LTTE is estimated to harvest between an estimated USD 10 million to USD 30 million a month through organizations such as the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils, Human Rights for Tamils, Melrose Publishers, the Tamil Center for Human Rights, the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC), the Tamil Eelam Economic Development Organization, the Tamil Relief Organisation (TRO), the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO), the United Tamil Organization, the White Pigeon, the World Tamil Movement (WTO), and the World Tamil Association (WTA), to name a few of the fronts engaged in these tasks.

These organization collects funds from individuals and business; by managing Hindu Temples principally serving Tamil Diaspora communities; engaging in businesses including the internet, community-based Tamil radio stations and subscription satellite TV, drug pedalling, particularly heroin from Southeast and Southwest Asia, shipping lines, travel agencies, human smuggling; as well as fixed income generation methods, such as the ‘Registration’ of the Tamil Diaspora. According to a May 6, 2007, report, the Armulmihu Hindu temple in Tooting in South London, which reportedly raises nearly £500,000 each year, may have possible links to the LTTE in Sri Lanka.

Through these global financial operations, the LTTE runs its arms network, headed by Tharmalingam Shanmugham aka Kumaran Pathmanathan aka KP, which acquire weaponry and munitions from countries like Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Burma, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Greece, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. KP has his main bases in Bangkok, Rangoon, Singapore and, more recently, in Johannesburg, and is alleged to have held various bank accounts in Australia, Frankfurt and London. According to the August 29, 2007, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report the Government of Eritrea is providing direct military assistance to the LTTE. There is cumulative corroborative evidence confirming the fact that the arms network has spread across the globe.

Reports also indicate that the Tigers receive military training in some of these countries as well. One surprising source of such training was uncovered in August 2007, when the Sri Lankan Government launched an investigation into claims that LTTE cadres received ‘police’ training in the UK after the 2002 cease-fire agreement (CFA). The probe was ordered after revelations by a 29 year old LTTE cadre, Kalimuttu Vinodkumar, who was arrested at a Police roadblock in Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, told interrogators that he was among 12 LTTE cadres sent on a three-month training programme to Northern Ireland, shortly after the CFA was signed. The course had been conducted by foreign instructors with the help of Tamil translators.

Over the years, the LTTE’s international support network has ensured that the Tigers became the only terrorist organization with its own military – an army, navy and air force – and clear control over a large swathe of land.

Things, however, started to change after the declaration of the ‘war on terror’ in the wake of the September 2001 incidents in the US, with international attitudes hardening against the LTTE. Despite this, the 25-nation European Union only banned the LTTE in May 2006. Earlier, Canada proscribed the outfit on April 10, 2006. India was the first country to ban the LTTE in 1992. The LTTE is also on a list of proscribed terrorist organisations in the US, and is currently banned in as many as 31 countries. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (United States) went to the extent describing the organization as one of the most dangerous and deadly extremist outfits in the world, as they had ‘inspired’ networks worldwide, including the al-Qaeda in Iraq. Corroborating linkages with the al Qaeda, a March 25, 2007, report indicated that the LTTE had supplied forged passports to Ramzi Yousef, who bombed the World Trade Center. Earlier, on March 10, 2007, Falk Rovik, chief spokesperson of Norwegians Against Terrorism, stated in Toronto that the LTTE had stolen hundreds of Norwegian passports and sold them to al Qaeda to earn money. According to a July 7, 2007, report, the UK declared the LTTE the ‘second most dangerous terrorist group’ in the world, after al Qaeda.

Nevertheless, the LTTE’s international networks have suffered major reverses in the recent past, with many instances in which leaders/cadres of the LTTE or their front organizations have arrested, sentenced to prison, or otherwise restrained, for a variety of subversive activity across the world. Some of the major incidents, in this context, include:

April 11, 2008: Counterterrorism police in Quebec and Ontario in Canada reportedly shut down the World Tamil Movement (WTM) office in Montreal, alleging that the organization has been raising money to finance terrorist activities in Sri Lanka.

January 10, 2008: A US District Court in Maryland sentenced, Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa, a Sri Lankan resident in the US, to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to provide arms, ammunition and other military materiel to the LTTE.

October 21, 2007: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP’s) Senior Liaison Officer for the Caribbean disclosed that more than 100 people, including key members of the LTTE, were arrested in the Caribbean with fraudulent travel documents, including Western passports forged with the aim of entering the US and Canada.

September 25, 2007: French Police arrested Ranjan, who was appointed by the Wanni LTTE to take charge of LTTE activities in France after the arrest of Parithi aka Nadarajah Mathienthiram, who was earlier in charge of operations in this country.

August 14, 2007: Three top LTTE suspects, Sujit Gunapala, Sasiljaran Teverajah and Satiepawan Arseawatap were deported to Sri Lanka. Gunapala, Teverajah and Arseawatap were arrested from the Ranong province in Thailand on May 12, 2003, with 10 Glock pistols and three HK Mark 23 pistols, and had remained under detention in Thailand for attempting to smuggle weapons to Sri Lanka.

June 21, 2007: Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar alias Shanthan, president of the British Tamil Association, the high-ranking agent of the LTTE, and head of finance, Goldan Lambert, were arrested by the British Police under the 2000 Terrorism Act. Subsequently, on July 5, 2007, a British Court froze all bank accounts belonging to Shanthan and wife, whose business ventures, as on July 2, 2007, amounted to four billion pounds sterling.

May 17, 2007: The Maldives Coast Guard opened fire on and sank a small vessel carrying suspected LTTE cadres after a 12-hour standoff at sea in the southern territorial waters of Maldives. The boat was carrying guns and mortar ammunition.

May 1, 2007: Australian Police arrested two suspected LTTE cadres, Aruran Vinayagamoorthy (who had access to USD 5,26,000 in two bank accounts between August 2001 and December 2005) and Sivarajah Yathavan, after raids in Sydney and Melbourne.

April 28, 2007: Six Sri Lankans, including the prime accused Satrubarajah Shanamugarajah alias Ruby, connected to the LTTE, were convicted for organized crime in Norway. More than Norwegian Kroner 5.3 million had reportedly been stolen in Norway's largest credit card scam, with links to LTTE cells in Canada, England, Germany and Sweden.

April 25, 2007: The ‘director’ of the LTTE in New York, Karunakaran Kandasamy, was arrested by the FBI in Queens, on charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. A FBI raid on Kandasamy’s office in Queens revealed evidence that he had raised millions of dollars for the Tamil Tigers through a front organization called the World Tamil Coordinating Committee.

April 1, 2007: The leader of the LTTE’s France branch since 2003, Nadarajah Mathinthiran alias ‘Parathi’ and Thuraisamy Jeyamorthy alias ‘Jeya’, who are in charge of fundraising in France, were among 17 LTTE suspects arrested. During 2006, the LTTE reportedly collected more than Euro six million, forcing each Tamil family to pay Euro 2000 per year and each Tamil shopkeeper Euro 6000 per year.

March 8, 2007: Haji Subandi, an international arms dealer from Indonesia, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Guam in USA to conspiring to export guns, surface-to-air missiles and other military hardware to the LTTE.

August 30, 2006: Indonesian police arrested 13 LTTE suspects during a raid in the southern Java coast. The suspects were reportedly moving to Australia.

August 22, 2006: 13 suspects with close links to the LTTE, including ‘Waterloo’ Suresh aka Suresh Skandarajah, were arrested from Buffalo, New York, San Jose, California, Seattle, Washington and Connecticut, following a RCMP and FBI probe into allegations that LTTE sympathizers in North America tried to buy missiles and move terror funds.

April 16, 2006: Canadian Police raided the office of the WTM in Montreal, the first raid after the Canadian Government proscribed the LTTE as a terrorist group, and seized computers, files, LTTE flags and other political documents.

The latest crackdown appears to be part of an international operation aimed at neutralizing the LTTE’s operations worldwide. However, proscribing the LTTE has tended to have only limited success, since the organisation simply sets up new fronts that continue activities earlier carried out directly by LTTE offices, or by other fronts that come afoul of the law. Thus, after the TRO was banned in the UK, fund collection for the LTTE was undertaken by a charity named White Pigeon. Similarly, when the Washington-based Intelsat Ltd. banned the National Television of Tamil Eelam (NTT) the official television of the LTTE, on April 21-22, 2007, the LTTE started its Paris-based Tamil Television Network (TTN), a pay television channel owned by Globecast, which was later shut down on May 3, 2007.

Even the limited successes against the LTTE’s international operations in the recent past have had tremendous impact on LTTE capacities on the ground. Nevertheless, the LTTE’s global network is far from defunct, and the intelligence communities in the many countries in which the Tamil rebels operate fronts will have to keep pace with the constant adaptation and inventiveness that remains a hallmark of the LTTE’s operations, both domestically and abroad. The Sri Lankan Ambassador to the US, Bernard Goonetilleke, in a recent interview, rightly noted that "a problem that is taking place 10,000 miles away from the coast of the US, is not a problem of Sri Lanka alone… Terrorist groups feed on each other." In the ever-shrinking global village, terrorist organisations with widely divergent ideologies and objectives are coming together to secure tactical and material advantages. If counter-terrorism is to succeed, the world community will have to establish a regime of even greater and more efficient collaboration and cooperation to neutralize the rising and diverse terrorist threat.

Batticaloa: An Uncertain Restoration

Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

About 10 months after the security forces (SFs) wiped out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from the entire Eastern province, the Sri Lankan Government, on March 10, 2008, conducted elections to nine local body Councils in the Batticaloa District. The Elections marked the completion of the local body polls in the District, as in 2006, elections could be held only for three councils out of 12, due to the unstable security situation. The Batticaloa Elections also marked the completion of the local body polls in the Eastern Province, as elections for the Trincomalee and Ampara local bodies had already been held in 2006. The Elections, while reflecting the commitment of the Government to usher in democracy in the area, were also part of the process of consolidating the Government’s military gains by reinstalling structures of civil administration.

Colombo had been worried about the vacuum that had been created after the ouster of the LTTE from the East, and the elections were also an attempt to legitimise the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) – the political party created by the breakaway ‘Karuna’ faction of the LTTE, now led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanttan aka Pilliyan – which the Government believes can provide the civil administration and create a situation where the LTTE can never recover a position that would allow it to return to the province.

The legitimacy of the election, however, was disputed as the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the latter closely allied to the LTTE, along with some other parties, boycotted the elections, saying that these were not going to be free and fair. "People are terrified at the thought of elections and would feel greatly relieved without it," TNA Batticaloa District Member of Parliament S. Jeyanandamoorthy told Tamil Net on March 7, three days before the polls.

Nevertheless, the elections were, by and large, peaceful. The Deputy Inspector General (DIG)-elections, H.M.D. Herath, disclosed on March 11, that not a single incident of violence was reported on the polling day. According to DIG Herath, 30 violent incidents, mostly minor in nature, were reported during the entire election period, since the January 4, 2008, notification. He also indicated that special measures had been taken to prevent incidents of violence in the aftermath of the poll, with certain candidates and supporters expressing fears of retaliation.

Meanwhile, the largest elections monitoring body in the country, the People's Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), which deployed more than 300 monitors (including 20 foreign observers) and covered 98 per cent of the polling areas, reported that no incidents of injury or acts of violence were recorded by its 15 mobile units, which travelled to all parts of the District on the polling day. PAFFREL, however, pointed out that there was a lot of pressure on candidates opposed to the TMVP not to contest. "The entire course of the election, from the time of its announcement, was free of overt violence," it said in its interim report on the poll, adding, "However, during this period PAFFREL received several reports of intimidation of candidates." It also noted that weapons were not carried in public, as feared by political adversaries of the TMVP, which was at least partially responsible for their boycotting of the polls. The LTTE had also called for the boycott, ensuring that the TNA would not participate.

Although the LTTE’s public posture in calling for the poll boycott referred to ‘apprehensions’ that the elections would not have been fair and free of violence, such a decision is hardly strange in view of the dwindling political fortunes of the TNA, which had lost its voter base in Batticaloa as well as in the entire Eastern Province. Further, the LTTE was not in a position to guarantee the personal security of TNA candidates, if the latter had chosen to contest. Thus, Batticaloa District Member of Parliament Jeyanandamoorthy, stated on March 7, "The Tamil National Alliance is totally boycotting these polls. Had our party fielded candidates, they would have been brutally murdered by the paramilitary groups. Even our fellow parliamentarians have been murdered. Some of them became victims of bombing. Why, even my own brother was shot dead. In the final Budget voting that took place in November 2007, relatives of the Parliamentarians were abducted in order to ensure that these Parliamentarians abstained from the voting process. I am unable to visit my own constituency."

However, buoyed by the outcome of the Batticaloa polls, on March 12 the Government announced that elections for the Eastern Provincial Council (PC), to elect 35 members – 10 in Trincomalee, 11 in Batticaloa and 14 in Ampara, along with two bonus seats that would be offered to the party or independent group that captures the largest number of seats in the Council – will be held on May 10. Corroborating the Government’s upbeat mood Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, on March 11, stated, "It [the March 10 election] demonstrated the shape of events to come… the success of the election has paved the way for Provincial Council elections in May." Unlike the Batticaloa polls, the PC election is being contested by all the major political parties barring the pro-LTTE TNA.

The TMVP, a registered political party with a ‘(para)military’ setup, won eight Pradeshiya Sabhas (Local Councils) out of the total of nine councils for which the elections were held. It secured 61 seats, while the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UFPA) won 15 seats. Although the UPFA won the Batticaloa Municipal Council with 11 out of 19 seats, Shiwageetha Prabhakaran, a woman representative of the TMVP, was elected as Mayor of Batticaloa, confirming the fact the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s Government is trying to pay back the ‘Karuna faction’ and the TMVP for their support to the SFs in wiping out the Tigers from the East.

There were nine political parties and 22 independent groups fielding 831 candidates for 101 seats in the nine local Councils and the Batticaloa Town municipality. A total of 270,471 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise. 285 polling stations functioned with 26 counting centres. More than 4,200 polling staffers were on duty along with 6,425 Police/security officials to ensure a free and fair poll. Despite persistent rain in most parts of the District resulting in heavy flooding, and the lurking fear of sabotage on the part of the LTTE, the polls witnessed a 59 per cent voter turnout. The Koralepattu North Pradeshiya Sabha Division recorded the highest percentage of polling (79.8 per cent) while the lowest figure, for the Batticaloa Municipal Council, was around 49 per cent.

The large voter turn out, in spite of the LTTE’s boycott call, was an indication of the lost influence of the rebels over a large area, where the outfit commanded unflinching deference about just over a year ago. The restoration of democratic institutions will bring welcome relief for the population after years of LTTE dominance.

Notwithstanding the TMVP’s triumph, the poll results in Batticaloa and the restoration of local body institutions, throw open several challenges to the Government efforts to strengthen gains in the region. More than the TMVP, President Rajapakse’s UPFA needs to live up to the main campaign slogan, promising 'economic development of the east'. The Government, after the final eviction of the LTTE from the Eastern Province in July 2007, embarked on the Nagenahira Navodaya (Reawakening of the East) Programme will have to deal with the issues of resettlement of all internally displaced persons (IDPs), economic development, creating employment and setting up an effective civil administration in the region.

The most important task ahead for the newly elected local bodies will be to ensure the safety and security for the common man. Terrorism related fatalities in the entire Eastern province have, of course, witnessed a steep decline – from 1,782 in 2006, to 845 in 2007, and just 35 in the first quarter of 2008. Batticaloa has witnessed similar declines: while 624 fatalities were recorded in the District in 2006, the number declined to 570 in 2007. Only 17 fatalities have been reported in the first quarter of 2008. Nevertheless, insecurity and fear remain pervasive. There have been almost daily occurrences of incidents of violence and evidence of all-pervasive anarchy – abduction, disappearances, extortion and intimidation – in the District, as well as in the entire Eastern Province. The presence of armed TMVP cadres has added to the complexities of the situation. If the gains of the recent past are to be consolidated, and a permanent stability established in the Eastern Province, Colombo will have to find a way out of this mess sooner rather than latter.

[Source: South Asian Intelligence Review]

381 LTTE militants and 53 soldiers among 462 persons killed during the week: 381 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants, 53 soldiers and 28 civilians were among 462 persons killed in separate incidents between April 20 and April 27, 2008. 13 militants were killed during separate encounters with the troops in the Kathankulam, Veddayapiru, Veddayampuramkulam, Adampan and Malikaittidal areas of Mannar District on April 20. Separately, MI 24 fighter helicopters of the SLAF neutralized an LTTE mortar location and one of the outfit’s forward command posts in the area east of Adampan, killing 12 militants. The troops, in a pre-dawn attack on April 21, captured the LTTE main operation base in Mannar, codenamed ‘Lima-3’, located east of Kathankulam. A stretch of about 1,300 meters also came under the troops’ control while seven militants were killed in the operation. Also, more than 169 militants and 43 soldiers are reported to have died in a fierce gun-battle between the security forces and LTTE cadres in and around Muhamalai FDL (Forward Defence Line) in the Jaffna District on April 23-morning. On the same day, at least another 16 LTTE militants were killed during encounters in the area north of Janakapura and Kiriibbanwewa in the Vavuniya District. One soldier was also killed while five others sustained injuries during the incidents. At least 27 militants were killed in fighting in the Malikaittidal area of Mannar District when the troops attacked and captured the outfit’s fortified bunker line and a trench line on April 24. Three soldiers were also killed and another seven injured in the clashes. Meanwhile, 26 civilians, including seven women, were killed and 40 others were injured when the LTTE militants detonated a bomb inside a Ceylon Transport Board bus parked at the public bus stand in the Piliyandala suburb of Colombo, at around 7:00 pm on April 25. At least 19 LTTE militants were killed and several others wounded when the troops also attacked several LTTE hideouts and captured their trench lines at different places in Mannar and Vavuniya Districts. Further, an LTTE light aircraft bombed military FDLs in Welioya on April 27, the military said. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said three bombs were dropped by the LTTE at the military FDLs in Welioya but caused no damages to property or personnel. Sri Lanka Army; Colombo Page, April 20-27, 2008.

106 LTTE militants and 11 soldiers among 119 persons killed during the week: 106 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants and 11 soldiers were among 119 persons killed in separate incidents between April 13 and April 20. Among the major incidents, 13 militants were killed and three others injured as the troops launched attacks on LTTE hideouts at Kathankulam and Malikaittidal in the Mannar District on April 18. One soldier was wounded in the incident. Separately, the troops clashes with LTTE militants in the area east of Madhu and killed 12 of them, while injuring eight others. Further, on April 20, a Roman Catholic priest and human rights activist, Father Karunaratnam, chairperson of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights, was killed in a bomb blast at Ambalkulam in the LTTE-held territory, while he was travelling towards Kilinochchi. Sri Lanka Army; Colombo Page,April 14-20, 2008.

193 LTTE militants and 13 soldiers killed during the week: 193 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants and 13 soldiers were killed in separate incidents between April 6 and April 12, 2008. Among the major incidents, at least 21 LTTE militants were killed and nine others injured by the troops during clashes between the two sides in the Kallikulam area of Vavuniya District on April 6. Further, on April 12, the troops extended their Defence Line in the areas north of Giant Tank, north Kathankulam, south east of Adampan and Periyakulam in the Mannar District, after fierce clashes with the LTTE. At least 66 militants were killed while over 50 others sustained injuries in the clashes. 10 soldiers were also killed and 20 others were wounded in the incident. Sri Lanka Army, April 7-13, 2008.

Norway does not support formation of an independent Tamil State in Sri Lanka, says Norwegian envoy: does not support the formation of an independent Tamil State in Sri Lanka, Norway's special envoy to Colombo, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, told the United National Party Member of Parliament (MP) Jayalath Jayawardene and two leading Sinhalese Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka, on the sidelines of an international conference that ended in Oslo on April 11, 2008. "Norway will not support the establishment of Tamil Eelam," the MP quoted Hanssen-Bauer as saying. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister Arumugam Thondaman, who also attended the meeting, separately quoted Hanssen-Bauer as telling him that Norway would not be able to play the role of a peace facilitator as long as fighting raged in the island nation. "How can we do that when war is going on?" the Norwegian envoy inquired, according to the Minister. IANS, April 12-13, 2008.

Minister killed in suicide blast: Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, the Highway Minister and Chief Whip of the ruling United People's Freedom Party, was assassinated on April 6, 2008, by suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants in a suicide attack on a marathon opening that also killed a former Olympian and 12 others, while injuring approximately another 100 persons. The Minister was about to wave a flag to start a marathon when the bomb exploded at the western District of Grampaha, about 25 kilometres from capital Colombo. Considered as one of the prime targets of the LTTE, Fernandopulle is the second top Minister to be killed by the militants after D.M. Dassanayake, Minister for Nation Building, who died in a bomb blast in the same District on January 8, 2008. The Hindu, April 7, 2008.

176 LTTE militants and eight soldiers killed during the week: 176 LTTE militants and eight soldiers were killed in separate incidents between March 30 and April 5. Among the major incidents, at least 21 LTTE militants were killed when the troops attacked a bunker line of the outfit at Pikkulam in the Mannar District on April 1. The troops advanced another 800 metres into LTTE-held territory, neutralising the outfit’s Forward Defence Lines in the Kaliaddanchan village of Mannar District in the morning of April 2, killing 13 militants. One soldier was also killed while 12 others were injured during the clashes. On April 1, 21 LTTE militants were killed during clashes with the troops at Puthukulam in the Mannar District. Troops in the Sulanamaruthamadu and other areas of Vavuniya and Mannar District killed 12 LTTE militants. Separately, the security forces (SFs) in the newly captured Sinapandivirichchan area of Vavuniya District foiled an attempt by the LTTE to re-capture one of their bunkers in the area on April 2. In retaliatory action, the troops killed at least 11 militants and injured five others. Two soldiers were also killed while 15 others sustained injuries during the encounter. At least 11 LTTE militants were killed by the troops during clashes in the Navathkulama area of Vavuniya District on April 3. On April 5, 11 LTTE militants were killed during clashes in the Palampiddi, Madhu, Mundipurippu, Nedunkerni and Thirukethiswaram areas of Mannar District. Another 14 LTTE cadres were killed by troops during clashes in the areas north of Kiriibbanwewa and Janakapura in the Vavuniya District. Four soldiers were injured in the incidents. Sri Lanka Army; Colombo Page, March 31-April 7, 2008.

[Source: South Asian Intelligence Review]