SRI LANKA: LTTE SUICIDE BOMBER EXPLODES TRACTOR

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000496 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER MOPS PGOV CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: LTTE SUICIDE BOMBER EXPLODES TRACTOR NEAR ARMY BASE REF: COLOMBO 494 ¶1. (SBU) At 7:15 am on March 27, a LTTE suicide bomber detonated a tractor with an attached trailer just outside the entrance to Chenkalady Army camp near Batticaloa. Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told us that the LTTE initiated a mortar attack on the south side of Chenkalady camp at 6:45 am in an apparent effort to draw military personnel away from the gate where the suicide bomber would attempt to enter. When the guards refused him entry, the bomber detonated the vehicle outside the gate. ¶2. (SBU) According to Samarasinghe, three soldiers and five civilians were killed in the blast. One solder, two policemen and eighteen civilians, including two children, were wounded. Police sources informed RSO staff that two of the civilians wounded in the blast were members of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP),an anti-LTTE Tamil group with a significant paramilitary wing. The EPDP's local office is located directly adjacent to the Chenkalady army base. ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: This action, like yesterday's raid on Katunayake Air Base, appears calculated to demonstrate that the LTTE remains a potent threat and that the military is vulnerable in areas it claims to have secured. BLAKE