SRI LANKA: CEASEFIRE CONTINUES TO FRAY AFTER TIGER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001030 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2016 TAGS: PTER PHUM PGOV MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: CEASEFIRE CONTINUES TO FRAY AFTER TIGER SEA OPERATIONS ON PORT OF COLOMBO REF: COLOMBO 1022 AND PREVIOUS. Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead. 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan Military continued to engage each other militarily June 16 - 18. According to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM),the Sea Tigers launched a largely unsuccessful attack on a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) base at Pesalai, Mannar. The engagement, which sunk 8 small LTTE ships and 3 SLN dinghies, quickly escalated to ground fire, injuring 30-plus civilians among as many as several thousand taking shelter in a near-by church, and killing one. There are reports that Navy personnel may have thrown grenades into the church. Simultaneously, LTTE "frogmen" were apprehended north of Colombo, apparently during an attempt to enter Colombo harbor and blow up at least two Navy ships. Meanwhile on June 17, LTTE political wing head S.P. Tamilselvan issued statement warning Colombo of "retaliatory" attacks following SLAF raids. This intensified engagement, including attempted Sea Tiger attacks near the capital, threatens to bring war close to Colombo, potentially with serious implications for the economy. End summary. -------------- Tigers Threaten Retaliation -------------- ¶2. (C) Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) aerial raids on the Tiger airstrip in Iranamadu, near Kilinocchi, which had begun following the presumably-LTTE bus explosion that killed 64 on June 15, continued into the evening of June 16. According to the pro-LTTE news site Tamilnet, on June 17 LTTE political wing leader S.P. Tamilselvan, speaking from Tiger headquarters in north-central Kilinocchi, asked the SLMM to "convey a strong warning to Colombo" of "a fatal war" if the GSL continues to fault the Tigers for the failure of the peace process. Tamilselvan again denied that the Tigers were behind the June 15 civilian bus attack, and instead accused the GSL of "irresponsibly targeting civilian areas in (June 15-16) aerial raids" on Mullaitivu, Kilinicchi, and Batticaloa. -------------- "Frogmen" Surface on Negombo Beach -------------- ¶3. (C) On June 17, three suspected Sea Tiger cadres were arrested in Negombo, just north of the Colombo airport. Two swallowed cyanide capsules - killing one and landing the second in the hospital. Police took a third into custody for questioning. RSO sources confirmed the "frogmen" set up two boats to detonate on timers before they swam to shore, causing two explosions that caught the attention of civilians on the morning of June 17. ¶4. (C) Sri Lanka Intelligence sources told RSO that the LTTE was targeting the former U.S. Coastguard cutter donated to the SLN in March 2005, and a former Indian warship also donated to the GSL - the SLN's only two "blue water capable" ships. The source added that the LTTE had tried several times since June 15 to enter the harbor but had not due to rough seas. The cadres had been training for over a year on the east coast for the attack, and had come to the Colombo suburb of Negombo, near the international airport, on approximately June 1. The cadres aborted the June 17 attempt, again due to rough waters, and proceeded to the shore where they were to be picked up by a vehicle. Upon emerging from the water in "frogman" suits, the cadres were seen by civilians and apprehended. ¶5. (C) According to GSL intelligence officials, the cadres intended to affix magnetic bombs to the two SLN ships in the naval harbor adjacent to the Colombo commercial port. In addition, the Tigers apparently had suicide boats outside the harbor, disguised as fishing boats, to detonate against SLN's COLOMBO 00001030 002 OF 003 Israeli-made dvora patrol boats, which would have been deployed after the attacks on the Navy vessels in the harbor. ¶6. (C) Sources in Colombo told econoff June 19 that, so far, the LTTE naval actions near Colombo over the weekend have not increased insurance rates. Sri Lanka was, however, designated as a "war risk" country after the May 22 LTTE sinking of a Navy vessel off the coast of Trincomalee. As a result, no insurance companies imposed additional war risk premiums on ships passing through Colombo port, but well below the half a percent premium in effect before the cease-fire. Port officials had been negotiating with insurance firms in London to eliminate the new premiums, arguing that military actions have been in the North and East, well away from Colombo. That argument no longer holds water after this weekend, however. -------------- Civilians Caught in Mannar Crossfire -------------- ¶7. (C) SLMM deputy Robert Carlsson confirmed to poloff on June 17 that the Sea Tigers had attacked the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) base at Pesalai, Mannar that morning, leading to land engagement between 6 and 8 a.m. between the Tigers, SLN, and police. According to media reports, the LTTE approached the naval base in 11 small fiber-glass boats in an exercise military sources consider to have been a diversionary tactic to the larger Colombo port attack. The Tigers sunk 3 SLN dinghies, killing at least 6 sailors. The SLN sunk 8 of the 11 Tiger boats, killing approximately 25 Tigers. ¶8. (C) Simultaneously, according to the SLMM, the LTTE fired upon a police check-point located near a Catholic church in the town of Pesalai. The SLN returned fire, Carlsson said, "apparently firing randomly into the city." According to civilian witnesses, at least two men dressed in SLN uniforms hurled a grenade into the church where up to several thousand people had taken refuge. The grenade and cross-fire killed one elderly lady and injured at least thirty others. The military and LTTE have traded allegations of responsibility for the civilian casualties at the church. ¶9. (C) Military Spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe (protect source) told pol FSN that he could not rule out the possibility of a SLN sailor lobbing a hand grenade into the church, but could not confirm it. Samarasinghe added that though the Sri Lanka Army had been undisciplined in the 1980s, it had since become very regimented. He said he had "no faith" in the Navy, however, claiming it is undisciplined and he would not be surprised if the SLN had been behind the massacre in Kayts, off Jaffna, of 13 civilians on May 13. -------------- -------------- Peace Secretariat Head Concerned about Church Incident -------------- -------------- ¶10. (C) Ambassador spoke with Peace Secretariat Head Palitha Kohona mid-day on June 19. Kohona volunteered that, though things seemed quiet so far that day, he was concerned about the Mannar church incident. He said that he had discussed it with President Rajapaksa the evening of June 18, and that Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa and President's Secretary Lalith Wiratunga had been brought into the SIPDIS conversation. The President, he said, was extremely distressed at the reports about the incident. He intended to appoint a one-person Presidential Commission to investigate, and hoped to find a Tamil judge who would take up that position. "The President wants to get his hands on this problem," Kohona said. "Every time we get a hold on it, it seems to slip out of place." Kohona agreed with Ambassador that Sri Lanka could not repeat the mistakes of the 80's and 90's, first because it was wrong, but second, because Sri Lanka's friends would be less able and willing to help the Government. COLOMBO 00001030 003 OF 003 -------------- -------------- Tigers' "Usual" Post-Ceasefire Claymores Continue -------------- -------------- ¶11. (C) The usual low-level attacks characterizing the period since President Mahinda Rajapaksa's November 2005 election resumed on June 18 after the more extreme incidents the day before. In separate incidents in north-central Vavuniya, gateway to the LTTE-controlled "Wanni," a suspected LTTE remote-control claymore mine exploded on a SLA water tank vehicle killing all three soldiers inside, and cadres fired upon SLA foot soldiers. LTTE clashes with the eastern breakaway Karuna group reportedly killed five to six Tigers in Ampara, along the eastern coast. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶12. (C) Comment. The implications of the LTTE's latest attempts on SLN targets in Mannar and Colombo are significant: they bring the de facto cease-fire a step closer to its end, serve to reinforce the long-term planning and organization potential of the LTTE, and could do potentially devastating damage to the container trans-shipment industry in Colombo port. The possible SLN attack on Tamil civilians is extremely disturbing and is exactly the kind of behavior we have been telling the GSL, at the highest levels, that it must get a handle on. It is good to hear of the President's concern, and his intent to set up a Presidential Commission, but we have heard this before. We have no doubt of President Rajapaksa's sincerity, but his ability to enforce discipline throughout the security forces is at best questionable. If the evidence shows the Navy was responsible, and if firm action is taken against the violators, a different atmosphere may emerge. End Comment. LUNSTEAD