Lankan govt fears more bloodshed after suicide attack
By Frances Bulathsinghala
COLOMBO: As a bomb targeting a Tamil Minister opposed to the LTTE ripped Colombo on Wednesday morning, a day after LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran’s vow to continue his bloody struggle for a separate north-eastern state analysts say an all out war is inevitable.
Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare Douglas Devananda who had years before been an LTTE militant and escaped a several other suicide attacks, was inside his office when the blast took place, police sources said.
Police alleged that the attack which killed the minister’s personal secretary but missed Devananda was carried out by a female suicide bomber who was blown into pieces in the explosion.
Colombo National Hospital director, Dr. Hector Weerasinghe said two bomb victims are being treated in its wards with one reportedly in critical condition.
The suicide blast comes weeks after a twenty one member LTTE suicide squad attacked a Naval base in the north central Anuradhapura district.
Military strategists say Wednesday’s explosion which shook the capital is an ominous indication of what the LTTE leader meant in his annual ‘Heroes’ Day’ speech on Tuesday night when he said thousands of his fighters are standing ready to ‘fight with determination.’
The annual address by the rebel leader who shuns direct media exposure is dissected by analysts to ascertain what the LTTE Leader envisages for the immediate future.
“The rebels have been ousted from their strongholds in the east by the military but as long as Prabhakaran can lure his cadres to blast themselves as human bombs the LTTE will have a deadly edge over government troops,” an analyst noted.
The government on Wednesday slammed the LTTE leader as a killer and a maniac while peace lobbyists despaired that the contents of the guerilla chief’s speech only promised more bloodshed.
“Thousands of innocent Tamils have been sacrificed by a maniac and the government stands by its duty to protect the masses from this plague of ruthless terrorism. Time and time again we have invited the LTTE for peace, but repeatedly Prabhakaran has shown that he has no such intentions,” government defence spokesman Keheliye Rambukwella said when contacted.
The LTTE which commemorated hero’s day on Tuesday marking 25 years of war against successive Sri Lankan governments, said 19,877 Tiger guerillas had been killed in combat since the first LTTE fighter Sankar died in November 1982.
Nine hundred and fifty four guerilla cadres have been killed since the breakdown of the Norwegian facilitated February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement, last year, the pro rebel website Tamil Net said.
Twenty one per cent of the Black Tiger suicide cadres and 30 per cent of the sea tiger suicide cadres killed are women, the LTTE claimed.
Sources in the north east say the rebels have stepped up recruitment making it compulsory for all families to offer at least one member as fighters.
“Families are trapped in rebel controlled areas unable to flee. Even if they manage to reach military controlled areas they fear being categorised as LTTE suspects or sympathisers,” a worker of a non governmental organisation based in the north said.
In Colombo military officials said an amnesty for army deserters had brought back over 1,500 soldiers.
“They will soon be sent to areas where they are needed”, a military spokesman said as the country girds itself for all out war.
