LTTE atrocities committed in May
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The Tristar aircraft blown in
half
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Sri Lanka's national airline was called Air Ceylon in the good
old days. Later, the national carrier, which has won the hearts of many foreign
tourists, was renamed Air Lanka before coming to be known as SriLankan Airlines.
At a time the nation is preparing to celebrate the fourth
anniversary of the successful completion of the humanitarian operation and
wiping out LTTE terrorism, we wish to focus on one of the most devastating acts
of the Tiger terrorists who blasted an Air Lanka aircraft at the Bandaranaike
International Airport, Katunayake exactly 27 years ago.
The Air Lanka flight UL 512 had taken off from London's Gatwick
Airport with a 20-member crew and over 100 passengers on board. The Lockheed
L-1011-385 Tristar was heading for Male with three stopovers in Zurich, Dubai
and Colombo. When the aircraft took off from the Dubai International Airport, it
had 128 passengers onboard, apart from crew members.
However, the ill-fated Air Lanka flight could not reach its
final destination, the Maldivian capital of Male, as the LTTE terrorists had
planned to cut short its journey in Colombo, planting a powerful bomb inside the
aircraft. It was after the Air Lanka flight had touched down at the Bandaranaike
International Airport (BIA) that the Tigers achieved their target, blasting the
aircraft with a powerful bomb, in an act which shocked the world.
Over 21 people were killed and 41 others injured in the
merciless attack. There had been 128 passengers on board at the time of the
attack, including 25 British, five of whom were injured.
The UL 512 flight had been carrying mainly French, British and
Japanese tourists and was about to take off after its third stopover at the BIA
to Male when the bomb exploded, even shattering the windows of the BIA's main
passenger terminal. It was stated that the bomb may have been concealed in
crates of meat and vegetables being freighted to the Maldives.
Massive bang
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The wreckage of the Tristar
aircraft
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"All of a sudden, there was a massive, flash bang with flames,"
one of the British survivors, Simon Ellis was quoted as saying. "The ceiling
came down and my chair was blown backwards. When I managed to climb over the
chairs, I looked out and there it was - there was nothing.
The plane had been blown in half just right behind our chairs."
He had recalled the horrifying experience.
This was one of the earliest evidence that the LTTE was not
interested in peace talks. The LTTE had carried out the Air Lanka Tristar attack
to hamper the then peace talks between the terror outfit and the Government,
which was brokered by India.
This was not the only attack at the BIA during the LTTE's three
decades of terror. At the latter stages, they
even went to the extent of using assembled light aircraft to
drop bombs near the BIA and the adjoining Sri Lanka Air Force Base at
Katunayake. It was in such a background that the Government had to embark on the
battle against terrorism.
Certain countries in the West which still show extraordinary
concern over the human rights of the terrorists killed in action, must take a
closer look at these numerous LTTE atrocities which brought nothing but misery
to 20 million people.
This week marks the 27th anniversary of another attack carried
out by the LTTE. On May 6, 1986, a massive bomb detonated by Tiger cadre inside
the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) in the Colombo Fort killed 14 civilians who
were at the office. In addition to those who had perished, not less than 114
people were injured in the attack that shook the capital.
Colombo's CTO was at work during the morning rush hour as usual
and the staff members were at their desks with the 'hello girls' having a busy
time connecting calls or answering queries and the customers who had come to pay
their phone bills.
Luckier few
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The attack in Anuradhapura, at
the Sri Maha Bodhi (above)
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After the blast, there were shrieks and yells calling
desperately for assistance, as some of those who were under the debris struggled
to free themselves from the weight on them, but they were the luckier ones as 14
among them including some 'hello girls' would never breathe again.
The terrorists had planted a time bomb in the building, but no
one knew how they managed to get in to perform their deadly mission.
The two-storey building, put up during the British colonial era,
was a strong and handsome one and sat in the hub of activity of Colombo's Fort
area facing the main Lower Chatham Street that joined the Olcott Mawatha. It had
a staff of about 150 and a number of people who had come there for various
matters were also present.
The time on the clocks read 9.23 in the morning. A deafening
explosion rocked the building. The glass on the windows splintered and flew
about and shreds of wood and cement plaster, bricks and iron railings came down
on the ground and first floor with the explosion. Some concrete slabs were
broken and some of the debris fell on the inmates of the building.
Additional Government Analyst A.R.L. Wijesekere, who visited the
scene on the same day, had said that a heavy explosives charge had been used and
there was a possibility that more than one device had been employed. "The
possibility that more than one device had been used has to be investigated," he
was quoted as saying. The explosives had been placed close to the public
counters.
Rescue operations were necessarily slow as the floors above the
basement were also investigated. The body of Assistant Postmaster S.B.
Ranasinghe was taken out nearly two hours later.
CTO workers who were settling down for the day's work in the
basement office and in the payments section on the street-level, suffered the
worst of the blast which was so severe that it sent shockwaves throughout the
city.
After explosion
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After the CTO bomb
explosion
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Several government offices in the vicinity closed for the day,
as workers panicked. The Ministry of State which was then situated across the
street, ordered its employees to return home soon after the explosion.
On Tuesday, we mark the 28th anniversary of one of the deadliest
terror attacks in world history. The entire nation and the Buddhist world were
shocked at the news of the barbarism displayed by the notorious terrorist outfit
at unarmed innocent civilians including the clergy, women and children. The
attack was masterminded by the megalomaniac terror chieftain, Velupillai
Prabhakaran himself, intended at flaming communal hatred and a spree of
island-wide mob attacks targeting innocent Tamil civilians. The masses, however,
though emotional and in tears, did not fall prey to the LTTE tactics.
The LTTE cadre hijacked a bus on May 14, 1985 and entered the
sacred city of Anuradhapura, armed for another human massacre.
As the Tiger cadre entered the main bus station in Anuradhapura,
they opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons, killing and wounding
many civilians who were waiting for buses. As unarmed civilians in the town ran
hysterically in all directions, many lay dead or bleeding with no knowledge of
what was going on.
The armed terrorists then drove the bus to the Sri Maha Bodhi
and indiscriminately opened fire, gunning down bhikkhus and civilian devotees
who had been worshipping inside the shrine. The terrorists had opened
indiscriminate gunfire at both the Uda Maluwa and Pahala Maluwa, killing scores
of pilgrims and bhikkhus.
The armed terrorists then sprayed bullets, resulting in the
sacred place being splattered with blood, as scores of meditating and
worshipping bhikkhunis, white-clad observers of the Eight Precepts and other
devotees lay dead or unconscious, having being struck by bullets. All in all, a
total of 146 hapless people were gunned down by the LTTE terrorists while 85
people sustained serious injuries in the Anuradhapura attack. This was the first
major operation carried out by the LTTE outside the North and the East.
On their way back, the LTTE strike force entered the national
park of Wilpattu and killed 18 Sinhalese in the forest reserve.
LTTE leader Parithy, killed in France in November last year was
a member of the terrorist group that carried out the Sri Maha Bodhi attack,
according to the Head of International Centre for Political Violence and
Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Prof. Rohan
Gunaratna.According to intelligence sources, Parithy, a supporter of the LTTE's
Nediyawan faction, had been killed by the Vinayagam faction which is now aligned
with the US-based lawyer Rudrakumaran of the TETG. Parithy, whose real name was
Nadarajh Matheenthiran and was known by the name Reagan in Sri Lanka, was
appointed Head of LTTE in France in 2003 by Nediyawan who lives in Norway.
Prof. Gunaratna had said that Parithy had received terrorist
training in Himachal Pradesh, India in 1984. He had participated in several
terrorist attacks within Sri Lanka before fleeing to South India in 1990 after
being injured by the IPKF.
These are a few of the many ruthless terror attacks carried out
by the LTTE for over 25 years which ruined the country. All those who now
vociferously talk on the so-called human rights of the LTTE terrorists being
violated, have conveniently forgotten the same rights of the thousands of
civilians butchered by the Tigers in broad daylight.
Thanks to the supreme sacrifices made by the Security Forces and
the political sagacity of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, all communities are now
living in peace and are reaping the rich dividends of peace. Hence, it is a
shame for those in the West, who turned a blind eye when Sri Lanka was hit by
terrorism, to point an accusing finger at us when we have achieved peace and all
communities in the country are living in perfect harmony.
Courtesy : Sunday Observer
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