Breakthrough in Army chief's suicide attempt probe

War and Peace : The Defence Dairy by Ranga Jayasuriya

For two weeks the investigators probing the assassination attempt on the Army Commander were pursuing a dead end.

Some media reports even suggested that the female suicide bomber had been assisted by an employee of the Military hospital and that the said employee who was also killed in the explosion would have been tricked by the suicide bomber in to a sexual relationship in order to get easy access to the Army Headquarters premises.

That was an assumption based on the past tract record of the LTTE, which would never let any stone unturned, explored all avenues in order to secure the logistical support for the success of its operations. Whether it is in flesh or cash, the Tigers would pay in order to successfully carry out the operation, that was a salient feature of the conduct of Pottu Amman's intelligence wing.

As for the suicide attempt on the life of the Army Commander, Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka, investigators believed and still believe that there could have been an inside hand in the Army Head quarters which helped the suicide bomber, intentionally or not.

Such a possibility is further reinforced by the fact that the suicide bomber had received a phone call, just minutes before her blew herself up, having walked towards the path of the commander's motorcade and but being prevented from throwing herself on the commander's car by two dedicated outriders of the commander's escort- Corporals Yakandawa and viraj both of who paid the ultimate sacrifice in their effort to save the army commander.

The suspicion was that someone had tipped off the commander's time of departure to the suicide bomber waiting near a parked bus in front of the military hospital.

And how she entered the Army Headquarters premises was also a question. Had some one inside assisted her? This is where the finger was pointed to an employee of the Military hospital, a corporal by rank that also died in the explosion. But, later the investigators found that he was innocent and that indeed no one had received treatment from military hospital, on the account of the said employee for the last three years.

Investigators concluded that the deceased corporal has been made a victim of some wild allegations even after the suicide bomber robbed his life. Indeed the wife of the slain Corporal had initially complained to the investigators, assuming they were responsible for the leak of wrong information.

The investigators have told her they were clueless about these allegations and one of them had suggested her to seek redress from the Press Complaint Commission.

Female Sergeant

Then there was another loose end. The documents of the military hospital said a female Sergeant of the Regular Air Force had received treatment on that day. But that lady said she had not attended the maternity clinic for the last three months, let alone the day under the question. She has given birth to a child three months ago.

Then the question emerged as to who did have received treatment under her name. Then the investigators question another lady at the volunteer force of the Air Force, whose particulars on attendance indicated she had gone to military hospital for consultation. But she was adamantly refused that she had received treatment on that day.

But, the doctor on duty that day had told the investigators that she consulted him and that he has proscribed her certain medicine. When the investigators pressed on, the lady admitted that she went to the military hospital and consulted a gynaecologists. She, however was initially reluctant to admit it, due to certain Personnel reasons.

So the investigators found they were pursuing a dead end for two weeks, simply because the lady in the volunteer force could not admit it.

But, at last they had a breakthrough late this week. One MI 6 trained communication specialist had reconstructed the SIM card of the cell phone, believed to be used by the suicide bomber. Now the investigators suspect that her mobile connection could have been Dial Five connection of the Dialogue telecom.

The investigators believe that this initial breakthrough would be helpful identifying the accomplices of the suicide attempt.

As Gen Fonseka is out of the office, there is an concerted attempt made by one senior Major General of the army to sweep under the carpet a report of a disciplinary inquiry held against the said Major General over the charges of misuse of public properties.

According to the report of the Special Investigation Unit of the Military Police, which probe in to the allegations, the said Major General has assigned soldiers given for his security to work in a private security firm run by his wife.

The immediate reason was for the inquiry was the sudden disappearance of a soldier-Private Jayawickreme A.V.S (S. 31487) who was assigned to the personal security of the said officer. The father of the soldier made a Habeas Corpus application in the Supreme Court over the disappearance of the soldier.

However, later the police arrested Private Jayawickreme in hiding in some rural place over the charges of deserting the Army. During this time, - August 2002- the said Major General had been following a National Defence College Course in India.

However during the investigation, it was revealed that the said Major General had not returned his escort and other soldiers assigned to his personal staff to the Military Headquarters as required by the Army Act.

Instead, he has assigned one officer and 12 soldiers to work in the security firm owned by his wife. This security firm is situated in Old road, Nawala, according to the report of the Special Investigation Unit of the Sri Lanka Military Police.

Drivers and cooks

The report also stated that though the said officer was entitled to keep only two drivers, he has kept five drivers. Though he is entitled to only one cook, he has kept two cooks. And though he should hand over his personal staff to the military headquarters.

When he goes to India for the National Defence College Course (NDC), he has assigned his personal staff to work in the Security Firm registered under the name of his wife. The wife of the said officer had every day visited the office of the security firm accompanied by an Army Sergeant As also stated in the report, the said Major General has assigned a soldier to the personal security of his wife.

The report said the conduct of the said Major General is in breach of Public Trust Act and also in violation of the Sri Lanka Army Act of No. 07 in 1947.

Private Jayawickreme has told the military office that he had been assigned to water the flowerbeds in the premises of the security firm.

He has also said that he ran away from the house of the said Major General after he was beaten by Sergeant Jayathilaka Banda AVM (S 14247) who suspected that the soldier was responsible for the break down of a computer at the Security firm.

Interestingly Sergeant Jayathilaka Banda has been assigned to computer works in the security office.

The said Major General had been following a course in the National Defence College in India from January 19, 2002. The soldier disappeared on August 25, 2002. When the ADC of the said Major General ranged the officer in India and told him of the disappearance of the soldier, he was told to keep it a secret.

According to the Army act, soldier is considered as deserted after 60 days of absence without an approval.

The ADC had been instructed to inquire about the father of the soldier whether his son was at home. However, having tipped off by the disappearance of his son, the father made a Habeas Corpus application in the Supreme Court. The case was abandoned after the soldier resurfaced working in metal quarry.

However, the Investigators of the Military police found the soldier's food ration had been received till October 23, 2002 and Pay and Record Section of the Army Headquarters had not been informed of the absence of the soldier till September 17, 2002. The report has stated the said Major General has violated the Sri Lanka Army Act of No 07 and Public Trust Act.

There is, however, a well-planned strategy at work, set in motion by the said Major General himself to sweep the report against him under the carpet, according to the well-placed military sources.

This week saw the demise of two top leaders of the LTTE military machine. Ramanan, the deputy military head of Batticaloa and Ampara was shot dead on Sunday by the renegade Karuna loyalists. Karuna's cadres first blew up a claymore mine targeting a vehicle inside the LTTE held area in Vavunathiu. The target, Ramanan was not in the jeep, which escaped the blast.

Ramanan was following the jeep in motorcycle. His bike was stuck with the blast. The attackers fired and killed him.

The LTTE accused the security forces of killing Ramanan and said he was shot dead by a sniper while inspecting the Forward Defense Line of the LTTE in Vavunathivu. The Karuna faction later claimed that its fighters had killed Ramadan, who is a colonel in the LTTE.

Ramanan joined the LTTE in 1984. His brother was a member of the EPRLF during the initial stage of the Tamil armed resistance and Ramanan used to bring food to the EPRLF fighters in jungle hideouts. He even wanted to join the EPRLF, but the party declined as his brother was already a member there. Later, Ramanan joined the LTTE. During the Karuna's revolt, Ramanan, who was the then intelligence chief in Batticaloa and Amparai defected to Kilinochchi.

He later played a crucial role in the surprise Good Friday offensive of the main stream Tigers, which forced Karuna to go under ground.

Loosing ground

When the mainstream LTTE began to loose ground as Karuna cadres intensified attacks, Ramanan was appointed the Batticaloa- Ampara LTTE military leader, Deepan's deputy. According to some sources, familiar with the Eastern LTTE, Ramanan has however been called to Kilinochchi about six months ago for certain misconduct and reprimanded. According to certain sources, Ramanan was stripped of certain responsibilities.

However, his death was a fatal blow to the Tigers and all LTTE top brass, except Prabhakaran paid last respect to him at a ceremony held in Mullaitivu. The second blow was the death of Weeramani, who was an Lt Colonel in the LTTE, who died in an accidental explosion in Kilali. Weeramani was overseeing the Nagar Kovil Forward Defence Line of the Tigers. According to intelligence sources, he died when a bomb accidentally went off during the transportation.

Norwegian peace envoys arrived in the Island for another shuttle diplomacy, but Prabhakaran had more reasons to worry about his security that he declined to meet Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim. Only the special envoy, Hanssen Bauer could visit Kilinochchi to meet Thamilselvan yesterday.

There is little hope that Bauer's visit could make a breakthrough, even Solheim has made the same remarks.