JAFFNA
Sliding out of control
AT LEAST 20 people were killed and 60 injured when a female Tamil suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to her waist as a visiting government minister’s motorcade stopped on Stanley Road in Jaffna town on 4 July.
Eleven of the minister’s motorcade died including Jaffna military commander Brigadier Ananda Hamangoda. Some civilians were killed or injured in crossfire when the military panicked after the explosion, say local sources. The Tigers’ target, Housing and Construction minister Nimal Siripala de Silva escaped with minor injuries.
The attack highlights the military’s fragile footing on the peninsula and the Tigers’ ability to penetrate at will. Army control outside a central belt between the KKS and Point Pedro roads remains uncertain. Much of the west around Manipay and the east beyond Chavakachcheri is either Tiger-controlled or contested territory. An eight-foot-high earth and rubble wall between Puthur and Chavakachcheri marks an unofficial Maginot line.
Such defences are little use against an unseen enemy. A landmine blast killed four soldiers and injured seven on 9 July as they transported school exam papers. Five days later 13 soldiers died in a dawn assault on a bunker position at Sarasalai. Ten more soldiers died in an ambush near Chavakachcheri in late July.
Civilians are brutally reminded of the Tigers’ invisible control. Former Asst. Government Agent (AGA) Thambu Ramalingam was shot dead by two youths in school uniform at his house on 6 July. Mr Ramalingam took part in official ceremonies in December restoring Jaffna to government control and had received death threats.
Mrs. Sarojayogini was shot dead in the street returning from the temple on 19 July. A note by her body said she betrayed the Tigers. A cowed local community stayed away from her funeral.
The hearts and minds honeymoon is over. After the Stanley Road suicide bombing, the civilian killings and the Tigers’ Mullaitivu triumph, troops are trigger-happy and security checkpoints increasingly tense. Large-scale cordon-and-search operations began in Navatkuli and Thirunelveli in mid-July and a number of youths arrested. The LTTE claims Selvam, 28, a fish trader was tortured and killed at Nunavil Army camp in late July.
What Jaffna Tamils want most-peace and a return to normal life - is sliding out of control. Food and medicine remain in short supply with rice at Rs 90 a kilo, and there are long queues for dry rations. Apart from minor road repairs and chlorinating some wells, no reconstruction has began and no funds provided by the government says Jaffna’s senior civil administrator Government Agent C. Pathmanathan. A new bout of Jaffna’s bitter civil war has begun and the Tigers have won the first round.
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