04-28-2006, 08:06 AM
Tamil suicide bomber who targeted Sri Lanka top general was pregnant, investigator says
DILIP GANGULY , Associated Press, Fri 28th Apr 05:30GMT. The Tamil bomber who blew herself up targeting Sri Lanka's top general was pregnant and that helped her to conceal explosives and get inside army headquarters for a maternity check, an investigator says.
The brazen attack Tuesday triggered tit-for-tat military action by government troops and the rebels that has pushed Sri Lanka close to civil war after a tense four-year cease-fire.
The bomber has been identified as Anoja Kugenthirasah, 21, from the northern government-held garrison town of Vavuniya on the frontier of territory held by Tamil Tiger rebels and was believed to be a member of the insurgents' dreaded Black Tigers suicide squad, the investigator said.
The investigator, who cited hospital records in his account of results so far of the probe, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Government Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said he was aware of the initial findings, but that ``cannot make comment until the investigation is over.''
On Tuesday, the bomber apparently targeted the car of Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka's army commander, inside Colombo's heavily fortified military headquarters.
The attack killed 10 people and wounded 27, including Fonseka, who suffered serious abdominal injuries and on Friday was in an intensive care unit where doctors described his condition as stable.
The suicide bombing led the Sri Lankan government to carry out air strikes on rebel bases in the northeast. The rebels hit back by exploding anti-personnel mines. The new violence has threatened to finally shatter a Norway-brokered peace deal on this tropical island of 19 million people that has been battered for months by sporadic violence.
Fonseka, a battle-hardened soldier with 35 years in the infantry, was appointed to the top post after President Mahinda Rajapakse took office in November.
On Dec. 4, the Tigers carried out the first major attack since the 2002 cease-fire, killing 12 navy sailors and unleashing dozens of rebel attacks, mainly using anti-personnel mines.
Sri Lanka's military at first exercized restraint, but Fonseka convinced Rajapakse that retaliation was needed and the military began to return fire when attacked. He also convinced the government that the 120,000-strong army needed to modernize its weapons after a four-year period of relative neglect since the cease-fire.
Fonseka clearly had become a formidable enemy for the Tamil Tigers.
So, the planning started.
The bomber had fake identification showing she was the wife of a clerk working for the Sri Lankan army, the investigator said, citing hospital records. Those records also showed she was pregnant, the investigator said.
Every Tuesday, the military hospital inside the headquarters holds a maternity clinic. She had attended the clinic on three preceding Tuesdays, the hospital records show, according to the investigator.
She also came to be known with the guards and learned the routine of Fonseka, who generally went home for lunch around 1:30 p.m., the investigator said.
This past Tuesday, the bomber got inside the army garrison a half-hour ahead of the clinic and stood in front of the hospital, which is beside the road that Fonseka takes to come out of the headquarters.
As his car approached, she came closer, and was shouted at by one of Fonseka's motor cycle escorts who ordered her to get away, the investigator said. She detonated the bomb shortly afterward.
Five of Fonseka's escorts were killed.
The Black Tigers are renowned for their skill at deploying suicide bombers against military, economic and civilian targets.
Victims have included former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and numerous Sri Lankan ministers and senior politicians.
Another former president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, narrowly survived a suicide attack in 1999, but lost one eye in the blast.
The first Black Tigers suicide attack was on July 5, 1987, when a rebel known as Captain Miller drove a truckload of explosives into a military camp and detonated them, killing 40 soldiers.
Since then, 240 other rebels have blown themselves up.
DILIP GANGULY , Associated Press, Fri 28th Apr 05:30GMT. The Tamil bomber who blew herself up targeting Sri Lanka's top general was pregnant and that helped her to conceal explosives and get inside army headquarters for a maternity check, an investigator says.
The brazen attack Tuesday triggered tit-for-tat military action by government troops and the rebels that has pushed Sri Lanka close to civil war after a tense four-year cease-fire.
The bomber has been identified as Anoja Kugenthirasah, 21, from the northern government-held garrison town of Vavuniya on the frontier of territory held by Tamil Tiger rebels and was believed to be a member of the insurgents' dreaded Black Tigers suicide squad, the investigator said.
The investigator, who cited hospital records in his account of results so far of the probe, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Government Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said he was aware of the initial findings, but that ``cannot make comment until the investigation is over.''
On Tuesday, the bomber apparently targeted the car of Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka's army commander, inside Colombo's heavily fortified military headquarters.
The attack killed 10 people and wounded 27, including Fonseka, who suffered serious abdominal injuries and on Friday was in an intensive care unit where doctors described his condition as stable.
The suicide bombing led the Sri Lankan government to carry out air strikes on rebel bases in the northeast. The rebels hit back by exploding anti-personnel mines. The new violence has threatened to finally shatter a Norway-brokered peace deal on this tropical island of 19 million people that has been battered for months by sporadic violence.
Fonseka, a battle-hardened soldier with 35 years in the infantry, was appointed to the top post after President Mahinda Rajapakse took office in November.
On Dec. 4, the Tigers carried out the first major attack since the 2002 cease-fire, killing 12 navy sailors and unleashing dozens of rebel attacks, mainly using anti-personnel mines.
Sri Lanka's military at first exercized restraint, but Fonseka convinced Rajapakse that retaliation was needed and the military began to return fire when attacked. He also convinced the government that the 120,000-strong army needed to modernize its weapons after a four-year period of relative neglect since the cease-fire.
Fonseka clearly had become a formidable enemy for the Tamil Tigers.
So, the planning started.
The bomber had fake identification showing she was the wife of a clerk working for the Sri Lankan army, the investigator said, citing hospital records. Those records also showed she was pregnant, the investigator said.
Every Tuesday, the military hospital inside the headquarters holds a maternity clinic. She had attended the clinic on three preceding Tuesdays, the hospital records show, according to the investigator.
She also came to be known with the guards and learned the routine of Fonseka, who generally went home for lunch around 1:30 p.m., the investigator said.
This past Tuesday, the bomber got inside the army garrison a half-hour ahead of the clinic and stood in front of the hospital, which is beside the road that Fonseka takes to come out of the headquarters.
As his car approached, she came closer, and was shouted at by one of Fonseka's motor cycle escorts who ordered her to get away, the investigator said. She detonated the bomb shortly afterward.
Five of Fonseka's escorts were killed.
The Black Tigers are renowned for their skill at deploying suicide bombers against military, economic and civilian targets.
Victims have included former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and numerous Sri Lankan ministers and senior politicians.
Another former president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, narrowly survived a suicide attack in 1999, but lost one eye in the blast.
The first Black Tigers suicide attack was on July 5, 1987, when a rebel known as Captain Miller drove a truckload of explosives into a military camp and detonated them, killing 40 soldiers.
Since then, 240 other rebels have blown themselves up.
<span style='font-size:20pt;line-height:100%'>Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.</span>