Another botched attack on Minister Devananda's life

The proverb that a cat that has nine lives is commonly used to describe a situation where someone had withstood and survived life threatening situations most of the time and emerged victorious and unscathed against all odds. The proverb aptly fits the Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, who is also the Secretary General of the EPDP. He had withstood several assassination attempts by the LTTE in the past. However, the violence unleashed by the LTTE on Devananda has not ebbed despite unsuccessful attempts.

Last week another botched attack was reported from Vavuniya where a claymore bomb weighing around 10 kilos was discovered in the EPDP office at Vavuniya. The claymore bomb concealed in a briefcase was spotted by minor employees around 8.30.a.m. who turned up that day to clean the office premises. The briefcase was found in the TV room where persons usually gather to watch TV programs. The discovery made in the nick of time saved the lives of several persons before it exploded. When Minister of Social Service and Social Welfare, Douglas Devananda was contacted he told the "Sunday Observer" that he planned to visit his Vavuniya office that day in the morning. The claymore bomb was programmed to explode in the morning, he said.

The Minister admitted that the LTTE had made several unsuccessful attempts in the past to get at him and this was the latest incident.

The police and the army, who rushed to the EPDP office following the discovery of the claymore bomb, managed to defuse the bomb on time. It was revealed subsequently that two LTTE cadres had planted the bomb in the office. The two LTTE cadres, who infiltrated the EPDP office, were responsible for planting the claymore bomb, EPDP said. They had meticulously planned the attack by leaving the briefcase in the TV room and had left three days ago before it was detected. The Vavuniya police are now on the lookout for the two suspects who vanished from the EPDP office. According to Police sources, a number of LTTE cadres had infiltrated the EPDP and PLOTE organisations in recent years. They become sleeper cells and lie dormant in a organisation for some time until they are activated to carry out a terrorist act.

Going by the records, Minister Devananda has survived around 11 assassination attempts staged by the LTTE. But the most virulent attack on him was on July 1998 when he visited the Kalutara prison to inquire into the demands of LTTE prisoners who were on a hunger fast. The detainees sprang upon him and attacked him with a knife and with poles. He was seriously injured and was hospitalised following the brutal attack. In November 2007, a LTTE woman suicide bomber went to his Ministry to meet him. The Public Relations Officer, Stephen who was busy registering the names of the visitors that morning became suspicious on seeing the woman. When the woman reached Stephen he became more nervous and got the help of minister's bodyguards to search her. When a policewoman began a body search on her she detonated the bomb strapped to her body. The Public Relations Officer Stephen who was injured later succumbed to his injuries. The two security officers present on the occasion were seriously injured. The incident happened on a day when the minister was scheduled to meet people to discuss their grievances.

The LTTE attempts to assassinate Minister Devananda goes back to 1995 when he lived at a house at Park Road, Colombo 5. A group of LTTE attackers stormed his compound and lobbed grenades at his security men on duty prior to entering his home. The minister made a daring escape from his home by switching off the lights so as to confuse the intruders and then leaping from his balcony. Thereafter he hid in a nearby playground and saved his life.

A couple of years ago a woman who called over at his office at Kollupitiya wanted to meet the minister personally regarding an official matter. But the security men on duty became suspicious about the way she conducted herself and prevented her from entering the minister's chambers. After realising that she could not meet the minister, the woman left his office hurriedly and walked towards the direction of the Galle Face.

Meanwhile the security men tipped off the Kollupitiya Police about the suspicious looking woman heading on foot the Galle Face Green. A policeman from the Kollupitiya Police Station followed her and brought back to the Kollupitiya Police Station to be questioned.

The highly agitated woman suicide bomber with explosives strapped on to her body blew herself up killing a Police Inspector and a Policeman on duty at the police station. What would have been the fate had the suicide cadre blown herself up seeing the minister?

The coterie of his faithful omnipresent security men once again saved his life by exercising diligence. A man of steel nerves, MinisterDevananda is unfazed by such attacks and carries on with his official duties without fear.