Top Tamil Terrorist who masterminded the
bombing of Central Bank, Colombo in 1996 killed in ambush - Mannar
defence.lk
Shanmuganathan Ravishankar alias Charles was one of the most dangerous
criminals who had planned most of the civilian massacres and terrorist
attacks in the Island's south. The most heinous civilian massacre planned
and executed by Charles was the bombing of Central Bank, Colombo in
1996. In this attack, 86 civilians were killed and over 1400 others
suffered injuries.
Charles was reported killed along with three other terrorists following
an ambush by Sri Lanka elite forces, in the general area North of Mannar,
last evening (January 05), said the defence sources.
Charles was known to be another self-styled colonel of the terrorist
outfit and the deputy to Pottu Amman, the chief of LTTE's intelligence
wing.
According to the sources, the army elites had ambushed a vehicle movement
carrying Charles and his companions. A senior defence official told
defence.lk that the attack was carried out with accurate ground information
received from LTTE dominated Wanni region.
According to defence intelligence sources, terror chief V. Prabhakaran
had presented a "Pajero" jeep to Charles for his success in
the Central Bank bomb attack . Charles was also known to have involved
in terrorist attacks at Kolonnawa Fuel storage, Kelanithissa Power plant,
JOC bomb in Colombo, and assassinations of key political figures and
armed forces personnel in the country.
Further, it has been reported that Charles had been able to win the
confidence of V. Prabhakaran due to his specialised knowledge in Colombo.
According to intelligence reports , he was the principal handler of
the terrorist network in Colombo and was the person who used to brief
plans of terrorists' attacks in the South to the LTTE leader. Also,
he was the person in charge of luring suitable security forces' members
to act as moles for the terrorists outfit.
However, defence.lk through its sources from Wanni has learnt that
there had been a long standing status conflict between Pottu Amman and
Charles. Pottu Amman being senior to Charles in the outfit said to have
become jealous of Charles for his ability to win confidence of the terrorist
leader. Just before the 2002 ceasefire, Prabhakaran had to move Charles
to Batticaloa due to the rising hostility between his two intelligence
leaders. It was only in 2005; Prabhakan could bring Charles back to
Wanni.
Wanni sources further say that the loss of Charles is a far greater
loss to LTTE than it had suffered when it lost its political head S.P.
Thamilchelvam in November last year.
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