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Suicide Bombers or Sinhala Terrorists - Which is worst?

Shenali Waduge

Mark Twain <http://www.wisdomquotes.com/001391.html> :

Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong,
which course is patriotic and which isn't.
You cannot shirk this and be a man.
To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor,
both to yourself and to your country, let me label you as they may.

It was the LTTE that reshaped conventional warfare to introduce to the world the suicide cadre - in particular the female suicide cadre. LTTE arguably still remains the world's leader in suicide terrorism. Its success ratio & the mayhem that it causes for the Government as well as the public is what guarantee's its continued existence. The real "men of steel" for the LTTE has been its female suicide cadres which account for 40% of its suicide activities. Merging with this lethal entity has of late been the successful use of the "Sinhala kotiyas" to bring about equal or worse acts of violence & pandemonium. That both these forces function "invisibly" makes it all the more difficult for the armed forces or even public vigilant groups to identify one from the other. If the suicide bomber is to be feared the "Sinhala terrorist" is one to be definitely feared more as identifying such a person who can easily blend with the normal happenings makes the final result more catastrophic.

It was on 5th July 1987 that the LTTE carried out its first suicide bombing. The attack on the Nelliyady army camp accounted for the lives of 40 Sri Lankan troops.

Since then up to the most recent suicide attack on the 2 TMVP members in the East of Sri Lanka (24 Feb 2008), the LTTE is guilty of carrying out over 85 suicide bombings & killing over 1055 armed forces & civilians.

Do they have any preference for any month to carry out their suicide attacks? Hardly, though since their launch of suicide terrorism from 1987 to 2008, the LTTE has struck most in the month of October (13 suicide attempts). These figures are compiled from personally collected accounts of suicide attempts by the LTTE & do not include the other bombings that the LTTE indulges in with equal malice.

Month of Suicide attack

Year of suicide attack

Number of Deaths

January

1996, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008

154

February

1998, 2008 (3 attacks)

96

March

1991 (2 attacks), 1997 (2 attacks), 1998,1999, 2000 (2 attacks) 2006

93

April

1995, 1996 (2 attacks), 1999, 2006

33

May

1991 (3 attacks), 1993, 1998, 1999 (2 attacks), 2006,

87

June

2000 (2 attacks), 2006

90

July (Black July)

1987 (1st suicide attack), 1990, 1996, 1999 (2 attacks), 2001, 2004

45

August

1995, 1999 (2 attacks), 2000

36

September

1998, 2000

19

October

1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 (2 attacks), 2000 (3 attacks), 2001 (3 attacks) 2006 (2 attacks)

237

November

1990, 1992, 1995 (3 attacks), 1996, 1997, 2001 (2 attacks), 2007

72

December

1995 (3 attacks), 1996. 1997, 1999 (2 attacks), 2006

93

 

The most number of = fatalities by suicide attacks according to years are :

Year

No. of Deaths

Year

No. of Deaths

1987

40

1998

154

1990

9

1999

72

1991

72

2000

143

1992

5

2001

26

1993

24

2004

5

1994

59

2005

13

1995

128

2006

132

1996

134

2007

20

1997

20

2008

12

You will note that following the 2002 ceasefire agreement no cases of suicide attacks were reported in 2002 or 2003. This will not include other acts of bombings that have taken place during this time. However, in 2004, 5 people were killed & 11 others wounded when a suspected woman suicide bomber blew herself up inside a police station in the capital.
Thereafter their spree of killings has continued unabated.

The LTTE also stands accused of killing 48 prominent Tamil leaders including Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mr. Lakshman Kadiragamar. Former Indian Prime Minster Shri Rajiv Gandhi became the LTTE's first international assassination in 1991. It was by far the most significant suicide attempt by a female bomber as the previous 7 acts of suicides could not be compared to the shock that the assassination created. The suicide attempt was immediately followed exactly a month later when another suicide bomber ran a truck laden with explosives into the Joint Operations Command Office at Flower Road, Col 3, killing 21 people & injuring more than 175. Thereafter the LTTE has managed to assassinate 6 Sinhala Parliamentarians including President Ranasinghe Premadasa in
1993 & almost assassinated President Chandrika B. Kumaratunge as well
(1999)

Personal, emotional or social vulnerabilities in sum provide the basis on which women become suicide cadres & why terrorists opt to choose women to train as suicide cadres. The hatred for life & people, hatred of oneself is a good foundation to start off training & it assures preciseness even if detected. On very rare occasions have suicide bombers not been unable to blow themselves up even after being discovered by security personnel.

However, training suicide cadres is time consuming. In an environment wherein the LTTE has enjoyed greater power training such women cadres has been an easy exercise. However, of late we see the LTTE at the receiving end of continuous & precise onslaughts by the armed forces.
Having had to give up the Eastern control the LTTE now subjects its control to a very small area to the North of Sri Lanka. It is in this milieu that the LTTE has opted for another equally lethal mode of attack.

The LTTE have of late discovered another means of creating equal mayhem
- Money. The Sinhalese that have been "bought" by the LTTE to obtain information, plant a bomb in a public place, carry out terrorist attacks, etc have risen in shocking proportions. Known now as "Sinhalese terrorists" these men & women seem to have no conscience for their contribution to the massive loss of lives & property. Who are these people who have sold their soul for a few lakhs? Well surprisingly the list includes not only members of the civilian community but an alarming number have been caught from the armed forces, politicos as well as clergymen. How are we then to distinguish as we attempt to counter the terrorist threat who the real terrorists are? When the LTTE itself operates by guerilla warfare it has another camouflage in the rising number of "Sinhala kotiyas" that now make up its deadly operation. To this list also includes even foreign governments, foreign nationals & even foreign establishments who work en masse with the LTTE.

It is often argued that poverty is what drives some to sell their conscience to "shylock" but that cannot explain the aid & abetting by high ranked officers of the armed forces as well as others who are presently being investigated for their connivance with the LTTE. It is difficult to really pinpoint why these people choose to cohere with the enemy but one thing is certain that it makes life for the armed forces, the Government & the public to identify who amongst the Sinhalese are actually working for the LTTE? The Mount Lavinia bomb, the attack on the base in Anuradhapura, the assassination of Gen. Parami & even the attempted assassination on the Army Commander inside the Army Headquarters display that there are plenty of "Brutus" amongst the Sinhalese. It is the lack of fear for the consequences that we see a surge in the crime rate in Sri Lanka which not only includes those involved in terrorist activity - the death penalty alone doesn't seem to suffice in people having a fear for doing wrong. Perhaps it then beckons to ask whether we should in fact implement Saudi Arabia's Sharia Law?

It is not something that any Sinhalese today would be proud to admit but it would be pointless hiding the truth either, which really once again reinforces the fact that the LTTE remains nothing but a terrorist unit that seeks to destabilize the country & its Government & will work as mercenaries for this end & its connections with international forces that also seeks to undermine & destabilize the country also holds true.

Shenali Waduge

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