The role of Army-backed paramilitaries in stoking communal tensions between Tamils and Muslims became clearer this week as two cadres who surrendered to the Liberation Tigers revealed their erstwhile comrades’ deadly attack on a mosque in Akkaraipattu.
The two cadres of the Karuna Group surrendered to the LTTE Monday after an abortive attack on Tiger positions in the island’s restive east. The Group is named after the renegade LTTE commander who deserted to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in early 2004 and heads it.
A key operative of the Karuna Group, Iniyabarathy alias Barathy, and three other cadres were killed Monday night when their party was ambushed by the Tigers whilst enroute to lay an ambush of their own near the LTTE’s Kanjikudichcha Aaru forward defence post.
Iniyabarathy was killed with three other paramilitary cadres in the no-man zone between the Sri Lanka Army held Manthoddam and the LTTE held Kanjikudichcha Aaru, located 5 km east of Siyambalanduwa near the border of the Moneragala and Amparai Districts.
Iniyabarathy, described as Karuna’s deputy, was allegedly behind many abductions and killings in the east under the aegis of the Army-backed shadow war against the LTTE.
A group of at least ten paramilitaries were moving towards the LTTE forward defence posts located around a kilometer from the positions of Sri Lanka’s elite Special Task Force (STF) in the Amparai district when they were ambushed.
Two other paramilitary cadres surrendered to the Tigers, Mr. Daya Mohan, political head of the LTTE in Amparai told TamilNet
The pair confirmed reports that Iniyabarathy’s cadres had carried out a grenade attack two weeks on Akkaraipattu Mosque, Mr. Mohan said.
Over a hundred Muslims were praying at the mosque on the Akkaraipattu-Amparai road on November 18 when grenades were thrown into the congregation early Friday morning, killing four people and seriously injuring over twenty.
The LTTE condemned a grenade attack on a mosque in the eastern Amparai district as a calculated attempt to create “division and animosity” between Tamils and Muslims.
The Sri Lankan military blamed the LTTE for the attack.
At the time, Rauf Hakeem, the leader of the island’s largest Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said that it is “highly unlikely,” that the LTTE was involved.
The targeting of Muslims has become more pronounced in the past few weeks, though some are blamed on rivalries within the community.
Karuna, the Tigers’ most senior commander in the east, defected to the SLA in April 2004 following the collapse of his six-week rebellion against the LTTE leadership.
Since then several LTTE cadres and supporters, paramilitaries and security forces personnel have been killed in violence that has come to be characterized as a ‘shadow war.’
In the latest revelation of Sri Lankan military collusion with anti-LTTE paramilitaries, the surrendered cadres further had said that the paramilitary group was operating from the STF camp in Pannalagama in Amparai district.
Meanwhile attacks on Muslims continued. Unidentified gunmen shot and killed two Muslim anglers Monday night at Maruthamunai, 34 km south of Batticaloa town.
And last week motorbike-riding gunmen shot and wounded Mr. A.L.M. Falleel, the Divisional Secretary (DS) of Kattankudy, at his office around 12:40 p.m. Friday.
Internal political rifts and use of violence for political revenge within the Muslim community has been on the rise, an official at the DS office said.
The two cadres of the Karuna Group surrendered to the LTTE Monday after an abortive attack on Tiger positions in the island’s restive east. The Group is named after the renegade LTTE commander who deserted to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in early 2004 and heads it.
A key operative of the Karuna Group, Iniyabarathy alias Barathy, and three other cadres were killed Monday night when their party was ambushed by the Tigers whilst enroute to lay an ambush of their own near the LTTE’s Kanjikudichcha Aaru forward defence post.
Iniyabarathy was killed with three other paramilitary cadres in the no-man zone between the Sri Lanka Army held Manthoddam and the LTTE held Kanjikudichcha Aaru, located 5 km east of Siyambalanduwa near the border of the Moneragala and Amparai Districts.
Iniyabarathy, described as Karuna’s deputy, was allegedly behind many abductions and killings in the east under the aegis of the Army-backed shadow war against the LTTE.
A group of at least ten paramilitaries were moving towards the LTTE forward defence posts located around a kilometer from the positions of Sri Lanka’s elite Special Task Force (STF) in the Amparai district when they were ambushed.
Two other paramilitary cadres surrendered to the Tigers, Mr. Daya Mohan, political head of the LTTE in Amparai told TamilNet
The pair confirmed reports that Iniyabarathy’s cadres had carried out a grenade attack two weeks on Akkaraipattu Mosque, Mr. Mohan said.
Over a hundred Muslims were praying at the mosque on the Akkaraipattu-Amparai road on November 18 when grenades were thrown into the congregation early Friday morning, killing four people and seriously injuring over twenty.
The LTTE condemned a grenade attack on a mosque in the eastern Amparai district as a calculated attempt to create “division and animosity” between Tamils and Muslims.
The Sri Lankan military blamed the LTTE for the attack.
At the time, Rauf Hakeem, the leader of the island’s largest Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said that it is “highly unlikely,” that the LTTE was involved.
The targeting of Muslims has become more pronounced in the past few weeks, though some are blamed on rivalries within the community.
Karuna, the Tigers’ most senior commander in the east, defected to the SLA in April 2004 following the collapse of his six-week rebellion against the LTTE leadership.
Since then several LTTE cadres and supporters, paramilitaries and security forces personnel have been killed in violence that has come to be characterized as a ‘shadow war.’
In the latest revelation of Sri Lankan military collusion with anti-LTTE paramilitaries, the surrendered cadres further had said that the paramilitary group was operating from the STF camp in Pannalagama in Amparai district.
Meanwhile attacks on Muslims continued. Unidentified gunmen shot and killed two Muslim anglers Monday night at Maruthamunai, 34 km south of Batticaloa town.
And last week motorbike-riding gunmen shot and wounded Mr. A.L.M. Falleel, the Divisional Secretary (DS) of Kattankudy, at his office around 12:40 p.m. Friday.
Internal political rifts and use of violence for political revenge within the Muslim community has been on the rise, an official at the DS office said.
