Tuesday, January 15 - A villager saw three persons in uniform crossing the road. This was at Welipara Junction, located on the road from Buttala and the gemming town of Okkampitiya. The village is more towards the Okkampitiya end. He thought they were Army personnel. An hour later, the villager met the Grama Sevaka of the area when he was passing by and told him about it. The villager said he was half a kilometre away from the junction when he spotted the three persons.
The Grama Sevaka had told the Officer-in-Charge of the Buttala Police. The OIC and 12 police officers had arrived at the scene later. They questioned the villager, took him to Welpara junction and asked him to show the direction in which the suspected Army officers walked. The Police party then trekked the path for a little distance and returned. There were no signs of the "Army" men.
Wednesday, January 16 - Around 6.45 a.m. Manel Wijesinghe, a minor employee attached to the Okkampitiya Hospital, was going to work in a bicycle. At the Welipara junction she saw what she thought were a group of Army men. Some were standing whilst others had crouched behind trees. She alighted from her bicycle and tried to walk towards them. One of the men in Army uniform signalled with his hand not to come closer and to go away. They gave the impression that they were on some ambush.
According to the minor employee, one of the men in Army uniform had a communication set strapped to his back. It had a long antenna. (This makes clear that the group of men were in radio contact with a base or individuals some distance away). They were all carrying assault rifles. When she reported to work, Manel Wijesinghe told her colleagues at the hospital that the Army was planning to do something at the Welipara junction. She said they would soon round up some terrorists and the news would be out thereafter.
At 7.25 a.m. A bus with some ten passengers passes the Welipara junction. Immediately thereafter, some villagers walking past Welipara junction see the same group and believe they were Army men waiting for an ambush. The armed men signal with their hands asking the villagers to walk fast from that area.
At 7.35 a.m. a packed bus approaches the Welipara junction. A claymore mine explodes. Tiger guerrillas who had by then taken up position in a hillock nearby open fire at the passengers who dismount the bus and try to run. Thereafter, the guerrillas descend the hill to fire at more passengers. One of them entered the bus through the front door and shot dead those inside. It transpires that the claymore mine had only injured ten passengers. A total of 27 passengers were killed and 51 were wounded.
At 11.00 a.m., the guerrillas who fled into the neighbouring jungle had entered a Chena cultivation. Farmers were busy tilling the field. They shoot five of them dead. At 9.55 a.m., the news of the incident had reached an Army Special Forces training camp at Galge. It is located on the road between Kataragama and Buttala.
An officer musters three soldiers and decides to rush to a neighbouring camp in a Unicorn armoured vehicle to warn troops there of the incident. A powerful claymore mine hits the vehicle injuring three soldiers. They were rushed to the Hambantota Hospital.
Investigators suspect that this claymore mine was meant for another bus carrying passengers. The lethality of this claymore mine could be seen from how the pellets in it penetrated from one armour plated side of the Unicorn and exited through the other armour plated side. Quite clearly, this means, armour plating passenger buses would be of no avail unless the sheeting used is thicker. In such an event, the buses would be so heavy it would not only consume more fuel but also move slowly.
On Wednesday afternoon Army commandos entered the jungles near Welipara junction near Okkampitiya to conduct a full search. Hours later, the search operation was to trigger off reports that they had exchanged fire with the fleeing guerrillas. There was no such incident. One of the commandos had stepped on a trap gun accidentally. He was injured and rushed to hospital. The guerrillas had fled and the search in that area was called off.
However, that was not the end of guerrilla activity in the area.
The next day, Thursday (January 17) guerrillas entered two villages, Kalaweligama and Hambegamuwa. They are located in the Tanamalwila Police area in the Moneragala district. They shot dead two Grama Sevakas and eight civilians.
In just two days, the guerrillas had taken 42 lives, that too in the Deep South.
Yesterday (January 19), the Government was examining the feasibility of appointing a DIG (Operations) for the Moneragala District. Strongly tipped for this post is K.M. Sarathchandra, DIG who was formerly in the Special Task Force (STF) of the Police. He is now DIG (NWP -West).
The hunt for the guerrillas by Security Forces and the Police, whose strengths were increased since guerrilla related incidents in the Yala National Park continues. Guerrillas attacked the Army Detachment at Talgasmankada (inside the park) on October 15. Seven soldiers were killed and six were wounded in the attack. The next day (October 16), an Army commando lost his leg when he stepped on a pressure mine. Two range officers of the Department of Wild Life Conservation were also injured in this incident.
