The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), a key paramilitary asset in the Sri Lanka Army’s shadow war against the Liberation Tigers, suffered several attacks the past week amid a general escalation in the violence.
In the most prominent attack, a time bomb ripped open a van scheduled to transport a close aide of EPDP leader Douglas Devananda last Thursday. Mr. Anthonipillai Jeyaraja, suspected to be the paramilitary group’s intelligence chief, escaped as he had been detained in his office and was late for his regular journey to work.
Mr Jeyaraja was in his residence at the Wellawatte office of the EPDP-owned and run Thinamurasu newspaper at the time the bomb went off in a van parked nearby. The Daily Mirror newspaper quoted Wellawatte police Inspector Nihal Mendis as saying among the injured were the driver and a fish seller.
Meanwhile, on the same day unidentified gunmen shot dead a senior member of the EPDP at Palaiyootru, a suburb in Trincomalee town. Two waiting gunmen killed Mr. Kingsely Weeraratne as he passed by on his way home.
A few days later the EPDP’s Pottuvil organiser was murdered. Mr. Abubhakkar Sagabdeen was without his usual police escort when he was shot dead on Pottuvil main road by a gunman on a bicycle last Monday.
The following day, another EPDP member was found shot dead 10 km north of the Trincomalee town along the Trincomalee-Kuchchaveli main road. Police said a group of unidentified people had abducted Mr. Sivalingam Vilvarajah on Saturday. His wife had been told not to inform anyone as he would be released after an inquiry.
The EPDP is one of the largest paramilitary groups operating alongside the Sri Lanka Army in counter-insurgency operations against the Liberation Tigers and is an important asset in the ongoing shadow war against the LTTE.
Scores of LTTE cadres and supporters, Army intelligence officers and paramilitary cadres have died in a cycle of violence which escalated last year in the wake of the defection to the Army of a renegade LTTE commander, Karuna.
The group has also fielded candidates, including its leader, Mr. Douglas Devananda, in elections, securing a seat in Parliament. But critics accuse the group of rigging elections in Army controlled areas close to its base camps.
Jaffna journalist Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalrajan was shot dead by suspected EPDP cadres in 2000 after he criticised the group’s activities, including electoral malpractices.
Mr. Devananda, who has survived several assassination attempts, has made no secret of his links with the Karuna Group, named after the renegade commander. The Karuna Group is spearheading the Army-backed campaign against the Tigers.
In the most prominent attack, a time bomb ripped open a van scheduled to transport a close aide of EPDP leader Douglas Devananda last Thursday. Mr. Anthonipillai Jeyaraja, suspected to be the paramilitary group’s intelligence chief, escaped as he had been detained in his office and was late for his regular journey to work.
Mr Jeyaraja was in his residence at the Wellawatte office of the EPDP-owned and run Thinamurasu newspaper at the time the bomb went off in a van parked nearby. The Daily Mirror newspaper quoted Wellawatte police Inspector Nihal Mendis as saying among the injured were the driver and a fish seller.
Meanwhile, on the same day unidentified gunmen shot dead a senior member of the EPDP at Palaiyootru, a suburb in Trincomalee town. Two waiting gunmen killed Mr. Kingsely Weeraratne as he passed by on his way home.
A few days later the EPDP’s Pottuvil organiser was murdered. Mr. Abubhakkar Sagabdeen was without his usual police escort when he was shot dead on Pottuvil main road by a gunman on a bicycle last Monday.
The following day, another EPDP member was found shot dead 10 km north of the Trincomalee town along the Trincomalee-Kuchchaveli main road. Police said a group of unidentified people had abducted Mr. Sivalingam Vilvarajah on Saturday. His wife had been told not to inform anyone as he would be released after an inquiry.
The EPDP is one of the largest paramilitary groups operating alongside the Sri Lanka Army in counter-insurgency operations against the Liberation Tigers and is an important asset in the ongoing shadow war against the LTTE.
Scores of LTTE cadres and supporters, Army intelligence officers and paramilitary cadres have died in a cycle of violence which escalated last year in the wake of the defection to the Army of a renegade LTTE commander, Karuna.
The group has also fielded candidates, including its leader, Mr. Douglas Devananda, in elections, securing a seat in Parliament. But critics accuse the group of rigging elections in Army controlled areas close to its base camps.
Jaffna journalist Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalrajan was shot dead by suspected EPDP cadres in 2000 after he criticised the group’s activities, including electoral malpractices.
Mr. Devananda, who has survived several assassination attempts, has made no secret of his links with the Karuna Group, named after the renegade commander. The Karuna Group is spearheading the Army-backed campaign against the Tigers.
