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| Sunday, 1 January 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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LTTE kills two birds with one stone Bull's Eye by a Special Defence Correspondent It has become a matter of national urgency to investigate whether the LTTE used internationally banned thermobaric weapons to kill 13 sailors on December 23 at Pesalai. A terrorist group having this lethal weapon is more dangerous than one having airpower. This should get priority as the damage by this chemical weapon if used is beyond imagination. Military experts and the Mannar Police HQI say Rocket-propelled grenades cannot do such harm to the human body. They strongly believe that the LTTE had used thermobaric bombs for this manslaughter. The killing of Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasinham was another tactical killing by the LTTE - killing two birds with one stone. Pirabaharan's policy is to use such deaths to prove the existence of paramilitaries in the North and East to gain sympathy. LTTE Kangaroo court Earlier, there were two school principals gunned down in Jaffna to serve the same purpose. One principal was labelled as anti LTTE and the other was pro LTTE. The dilemma is why the LTTE killed the Pro-LTTE man. It is part of the LTTE style to kill their own people. Victims could be those who show even the slightest disagreement with the policies of Pirabaharan. Voicing differences of opinion and commitment towards peace talks and negotiations could invite death to LTTE proxies. They have used such killings to convince the world that there are paramilitaries operating in Jaffna and charge the government with habouring them. They then ask the international community to put pressure on the government to disarm such paramilitaries. Under the same agenda, the LTTE killed the Head of finance section in France who abused LTTE funds on Casino and prostitution. A LTTE Kangaroo court decided to kill him. Later they ordered all Tamils in France to close their shops to mourn his death. Another rival group was blamed for the killing. His family was compensated. The funeral was conducted at LTTE expense. Nobody suspected the LTTE's hand in the killing. Thereby they misled the world and escaped from the crime. Similar incidents are aplenty in the LTTE history and the killing of Pararajasinham is the latest game of killing two birds with one stone. Pirabaharan would not hesitate to confer 'great man' awards to those who come under his execution and Pararajasinham too was conferred with Mamanithar award soon after his assassination. The assignment given to Pararajasinham by the LTTE was over and his inclination towards peace is the recent cause for his elimination. A killer group claimed the responsibility for the murder, which could be a faction of the LTTE such as Ellalam group in Jaffna. The style of the killing proved it could be the work of the LTTE. If they have control in the area, in collecting ransom, tax, abducting children and conducting hit and run attacks on the security forces, the LTTE should be able to catch the culprits. The other factor is their need to replace him with a newcomer on whom the LTTE has more control and raise their voice with more vigor in parliament. Raising security concerns in the provinces, the first killing of an Intelligence officer after the Army Commander assumed duties was reported in Nuwara Eliya last week. This highlights the need of the public to keep vigil over the movement of strangers in their vicinity. It is a well known fact that those LTTE operatives retreat into suburbs and provinces after major attacks in the city and others live in hide-outs in those areas while feeding information to their intelligence units and waiting for their orders to go on the next operation. The developing situation in the country warrants the public to keep vigil on the suspicious movement of strangers and inform the authorities. The duty of the security and military authorities is to make the authorities aware of the impending dangers and act without delay when the public information is received. Meanwhile, certain local Sinhala medium weekend newspapers highlighted government soldiers with covered faces at some sentry points in Jaffna. It may be an attempt to portray government soldiers as masked gunmen on a secret killer spree in the Jaffna peninsular. However, the newspaper cannot deny that the journalists are free to take pictures of the government soldiers, which relates a deep story. It is a pity he missed to ask him the reason to cover his face with a piece of cloth, may be to fight the dusty North wind or a stink. Would this cameraman be allowed to take a similar picture of a LTTE cadre? Would they be allowed to walk free in the LTTE stronghold and report on the suffering innocent people in the grip of the LTTE ? . This type of yellow journalism that abuses democracy could make more harm than terrorism because they are misleading the entire world on a sensitive issue such as the conflict in the North and East. VIP security to journalists A Journalist reporting the security situation has made history last week. That is his success to obtain VIP security, an escort of two vehicles with commandos to join his movements. We heard of embedded reporters who went to report the Iraq war and their reporting became the center of controversy as to what extent they were able to balance their reporting while enjoying the comfort provided by President Bush and seeing one side of the war fought by the US forces. We wonder how our fellowman walking under commando escort is going to dig stories and he would definitely give some lectures on his experience if he is invited to talk to his fellowmen. It is learnt that a number of commandos attached to the security escort of some top military brass were removed to form this new escort for the journalist. The Army Commander's pledge to restructure the Intelligence and give necessary cover to the Intelligence officers is contradicted subsequent to this arrangement because it has posed new threats to the lives of these particular top military rankers. **** Thermobaric bomb: fact file
As the name implies, it works on a combination of heat and pressure applying lessons that have been widely learnt from coal mine explosions or other industrial accidents. These are often created by clouds of gas or fine particles erupting into flame. The thermobaric weapon reproduces this situation to order, distributing a very fine cloud of explosive material throughout the target which is then ignited. The heat and pressure effects are formidable - soldiers caught in the blast could have the air sucked from their bodies and even their internal organs catastrophically destroyed. Thermobaric weapons are closely related to so-called fuel-air explosives - where the explosive cloud is provided by a volatile gas or liquid. The primary injury mechanisms of thermobaric weapons are blast and heat. Secondary injury mechanisms are flying fragments created by interaction of the blast with structures such as flying bricks, glass and metal debris and suffocation through the generation of toxic gases and smoke. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
These weapons create a huge pressure wave which effectively sucks the air
out of the lungs of anyone unfortunate enough to be within range. But the
principles behind this weapon are not new and similar weaponry was employed
extensively at various times by certain parties. 
