SRI LANKA: POLICE FORCES KILL TAMIL TIGER LEADER

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001023 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS AND PM MCC FOR D NASSIRY AND E BURKE E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/23/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: POLICE FORCES KILL TAMIL TIGER LEADER IN AMPARA; DEFUSE BOMB REF: COLOMBO 1003 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires James R. Moore, for reasons 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (SBU) Elite Sri Lankan police officers known as Special Task Forces (STF) killed six Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres on Saturday, July 21, including the Ampara area leader known as Ravindran, recovering a cache of weapons and ammunition. The STF reported that its raid was in retaliation for an LTTE attack on them in Ampara. Media sources speculated, however, that the assassination of Ravindran was in retaliation for the LTTE's assassination of Chief Secretary of the Eastern Provincial Council H.M. Herath Abeyweera on July 16 (ref A). ¶2. (SBU) On the western side of Sri Lanka in Mulikkulum near Mannar, the LTTE claimed to have repelled a two-pronged attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA),inflicting heavy casualties on the military, while losing five Tiger cadres in the battle. However, the SLA denied launching an offensive in Mannar, instead insisting that it was a "quiet" weekend with only brief mortar exchange for four hours on Sunday, July 22, resulting in no SLA casualties. ¶3. (SBU) In Colombo, police forces found and defused an eight-kilogram claymore mine in a vegetable market only minutes before it was set to detonate. This was the the third time in a month that police forces have been able to find a bomb shortly before it exploded. The mine was discovered after an anonymous tip and was located less than three kilometers from a rally held by President Rajapaksa. As a result of the President's presence at the rally, the area was heavily guarded by SLA and STF troops who were able quickly to deploy an STF bomb specialist. In response to questions concerning who was responsible for the mine, military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said, "Obviously, it was the LTTE. They are getting desperate and want to kill as many people as possible." The LTTE has not commented on the matter. ¶4. (C) Some commentators expressed skepticism about the STF's uncanny ability to find and defuse mines just before detonation based on anonymous tips. They also point out that this would represent a major departure from the Tigers' policy in recent months to avoid attacks against purely civilian targets of limited economic significance. MOORE