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| Sri Lanka rejects Tiger denial over assassination | |
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Government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva said the murder of Kadirgamar, 73, was a blow to efforts to revive the stalled peace initiative brokered by Norway. "The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) has denied any involvement, but we find it difficult to accept that denial," de Silva told reporters in the Capital, after the guerrillas told Colombo to look "inwards" for the killers.
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7.6 mm sniper rifle did the job
The shots were fired from a distance of about 300 yards by an expert marksman, they said. The assailant was perched on the first floor of an unoccupied bungalow owned by a Tamil, next to Kadirgamar's private house on Buller's Lane. He fired the fatal shots when the minister had finished his laps in his private swimming pool and was walking to the house wrapped in a bath towel. It was between 10.45 pm to 11 pm on Friday. The house was not secure strictly from the high security point of view, since it was surrounded by buildings which could give potential assassins a clear line of fire. Police said that eight persons were being questioned in this connection. | |
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Evidence points to LTTE, says Colombo The Sri Lankan Government on Saturday declared a state of emergency to track down the assassins of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was shot dead here on Friday night. The Government described it as a "preventive measure" in the immediate aftermath of the assassination. President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who condemned the "act of terror," described Mr. Kadirgamar as "a hero of our times" and said her Government "will not be bowed by such heinous acts of violence." A day after the assassination no arrests were made, but Inspector-General of Police Chandra Fernando told journalists that evidence available and the weapons brought by the assassins pointed to the involvement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. "Looking at the weapons used and the style, it is definitely the work of the LTTE. There is no other group with weapons like this," he said. The IGP's assertion came on the heels of a report on the TamilNet web site, in which the LTTE's political wing leader, S.P. Tamilselvan, denied the involvement of the Tigers. But the Government said the denial was unacceptable. "The Government finds it difficult to accept the denial," Cabinet spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva told a press conference here. The Government said the assassination was "clearly a violation of the ceasefire agreement." On the impact of the assassination on possible resumption of peace talks, the head of the Government Peace Secretariat, Jayantha Dhanapala, said it was going to be "very seriously undermined as a consequence of this development." "We have to accept that it is a grave setback to the peace process," Mr. De Silva added. "Steps are being taken to arrest the perpetrators and other LTTE suspects." Outlining the Government's position, he said: "The status of the ceasefire agreement will continue." Giving details of the assassination, the IGP said the sniper had struck from a toilet in a house next to the private residence of Mr. Kadirgamar. The police recovered a tripod used to mount a long-range rifle and found a "hole made in the window through which Mr. Kadirgamar's swimming pool can be seen." Mr. Kadirgamar was shot around 11 p.m. after he finished a swim. He sustained three bullet injuries and was rushed to the Colombo National Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 0015 hours on Saturday. The IGP declined to give details of the house which was used by the assassins, but said the police found spent 7.62-mm cartridges fired from a long-range rifle and an unused 40-mm grenade launcher at the scene of crime. Though the tripod was found the killer weapon was missing. Over 1,000 policemen were deployed on Friday night to search for the weapon and the assassins. Mr. Fernando said the evidence also showed that the LTTE had maintained continuous vigil as cheese, biscuits and snack packets were found at the place from where the sniper struck. The police were unable to say how many assassins were involved. "Maybe one, maybe two, most likely two," the IGP said in reply to a question. The investigations, he said, are "very, very successful at the moment." | |
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Time to read riot act in Lanka, feels Delhi
India feels it is time the Sri Lankan government as well as the international community should read out the riot act to the Tamil Tigers and redefine the peace terms to the rebels. Delhi has not officially blamed the LTTE or anybody else. But after the "brutal assassination" of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, it wants a strong signal to the Tigers that such violent acts in future would lead to global isolation. Kadirgamar, a hardliner who helped outlaw Tamil Tiger rebels internationally and was long seen as a prime target, was shot dead yesterday by a sniper at his heavily guarded Colombo home. In a brief but strongly worded statement, India today "unreservedly" condemned the assassination. Although it did not name the LTTE, it expressed hope that the "perpetrators of the terrorist crime" will be brought to justice. Delhi made it clear that the assassination was aimed at "undermining Sri Lanka's unity and political stability" and maintained that it will not support any move for a separate Tamil Eelam. "The Government of India's support for the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka remains constant and undiluted," foreign ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said while reading out the statement this afternoon. This is a known Indian position but that Delhi decided to repeat it now was a clear signal to the rebels what its stand is on the issue. The statement expressed hope that the Sri Lankan government will overcome the challenge posed by the assassination by making sure that the peace process remains on track. Sources in the Indian government said it was for Colombo and the international community to turn the heat on the Tigers. But, at the same time, it was important that the LTTE does not break away from the talks for a peaceful settlement of the ethnic conflict that has claimed thousands of lives. Although the Sri Lankan government has not yet blamed the LTTE, its army has clearly said the Tigers are behind the killing. Sources in Colombo said the Tigers may have denied any involvement, but the assassination bore the "hallmark" of the LTTE. The sources pointed out that though it was the first time that a sniper had killed a senior political leader, similar tactics had been used against army officials when the Indian Peace Keeping Force was deployed in the eighties. Kadirgamar, they added, was killed not only because he was one of the strongest opponents of the Tamil Tigers but also because the LTTE wanted to return to the limelight. With the focus being on the coming presidential elections, the Tigers, the sources said, were getting increasingly agitated that their demands were being pushed to the backburner by President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the leadership in Colombo. An official announcement is likely on the dates of the presidential polls by next week. | |
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Colombo, Aug. 13 (Reuters): President Chandrika Kumaratunga broke down as doctors battled to save her foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar after he was shot, an official said today as Sri Lanka woke up to its latest political killing. Television anchors wore white, the traditional colour of mourning, and shocked Sri Lankans queued up to buy newspapers reporting the minister’s assassination. Kadirgamar, an Oxford-educated lawyer, never contested an election and never addressed a rally in a decade-long political career. “It was such a shock, I am still recovering. He was undoubtedly Sri Lanka’s best statesman ever,” said Shanthini Anthony, a 32-year old university lecturer, who like Kadirgamar is from Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil community. Kadirgamar was instrumental in getting the Tigers outlawed as a terrorist organisation by the US and Britain and was long seen as a prime target. A team of over 100 elite commandos and soldiers stood guard around him everywhere he went. It was not immediately clear how his killer found a window. “I was absolutely shocked. There was this business of him being a target, but I never expected this to happen,” lamented Dr D.A.A. Perera as he read the morning newspaper. Kumaratunga cried as surgeons at Colombo’s National Hospital tried to save Kadirgamar's life, a junior minister said on condition of anonymity. Kadir, as he was known to the media and his friends, was a top adviser to Kumaratunga in a protracted effort to bring about a permanent peace with the Tigers, whose two-decade war for a separate state is in limbo thanks to the ceasefire. Hardliners from his own Tamil community called him a traitor. “His acts were considered to be treacherous towards the Tamils from the very beginning,” said M.K. Sivajilingam, a MP for the Tiger-backed Tamil National Alliance. | |
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Lanka
probes intelligence failure Two suspected Tamil rebel snipers gunned down Kadirgamar, 73, after he emerged from the swimming pool at his private residence in Colombo's fashionable residential quarter of Cinnamon Gardens. "The security was mainly focused on protecting the minister when he was travelling," said a senior police officer who declined to be named. "Three days ago there was a move to increase the number of vehicles in his motorcade." The officer said questions were being raised about intelligence gathering and screening of the ministers' neighbours as evidence suggested the snipers had set up just two doors away from his home. "Obviously they had not checked the neighbours as thoroughly as they should have," the officer said. | |
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Authorities
admit security lapse over killing Kadirgamar, 73, a leading critic of the Tamil Tiger rebels who were immediately blamed for the attack, was shot in his head and chest on Friday evening and died later in hospital. The Tigers, who have been waging a three-decade campaign for a separate Tamil homeland, have denied involvement in the killing of Kadirgamar, who was gunned down after emerging from the swimming pool at his home in a posh quarter of the capital Colombo. Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil who was a strong critic of the rebels, had been seen as a prime target for attack by the guerrillas and was the most tightly guarded minister in the cabinet after President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Fernando said Kadirgamar had rejected police advice that he leave his home for security reasons. He said he had surveyed the area recently and felt it was unsafe and also had received intelligence information that it was insecure. “I myself told him a few days ago it wasn’t safe for him to stay in this house, but he insisted because he wanted to go there for a swim and he had his library there,” Fernando said. “We also had the problem with this VVIP (Very, Very Important Person) because he did not want us to search his neighbours,” he added. Fernando said six rounds of spent 7.62 millimetre ammunition were found at the crime scene along with a 40-millimetre grenade launcher which was not used in the attack.
Some 1,000 policemen
had been deployed to search the area to track down the murder weapons,
Fernando said. Earlier, a senior police officer said the shooting raised
questions about intelligence gathering and the screening of the
ministers’ neighbours as the snipers were said to have shot Kadirgamar
from a house just two doors away. The minister had over 100 bodyguards assigned from the military as well as the elite Ministerial Security Division. They were backed up by intelligence units of the police and the army. President Kumaratunga, who narrowly escaped assassination in a suicide bombing blamed on Tiger rebels in December 1999, declared a state of emergency after Kadirgamar’s killing. Using the tough emergency laws, the military and police were carrying out house-to-house searches for the two suspected snipers, officials said. Fernando said three people in the minister’s neighbourhood were being questioned but no arrests had been made in connection with the assassination. HARD DENIAL: Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government found it hard yesterday to accept a denial by Tamil Tiger rebels of involvement in the assassination of its foreign minister, which it called a “grave setback” to the island’s peace process. “The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) has denied any involvement, but we find it difficult to accept that denial,” government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva said. “This is a grave setback to the peace process. The re-starting (of talks) is going to be seriously undermined as a consequence of this development,” Dhanapala told reporters. De Silva said Sri Lanka was seeking to mount international pressure on the Tigers to abide by a February 2002 truce. Scandinavian truce monitors also condemned the assassination and said it was “huge blow” to the peace initiative. “This barbaric act is a huge blow to the peace process as a whole,” truce monitoring chief Hagrup Haukland said in a statement. “Such brutal violence creates fear, distrust and insecurity within society, and therefore represents a serious threat to the ceasefire.” | |
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Sri
Lanka Declares State of Emergency
By KRISHAN FRANCIS Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency and deployed troops to search for suspects Saturday after the assassination of the foreign minister, while the government warned the slaying was a serious setback to the country's fragile peace process. The military blamed the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels for the death of 73-year-old Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was shot in the head and heart late Friday by snipers after finishing a swim at his home. Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil himself, had led efforts to ban the Tamil rebels as a terrorist organization but later backed peace negotiations The rebel group's political chief on Saturday denied any role in the killing and criticized officials for "hastily blaming" the group. "We also know that there are factions within the Sri Lankan Armed forces operating with a hidden agenda to sabotage the cease-fire agreement," said S.P. Tamilselvan. He urged Colombo to thoroughly investigate the killing. Officials said seven suspects have been detained for questioning. Kadirgamar's death was sure to put pressure on the cease-fire between the government and the separatist rebels — a truce already shaken by a two-year stall in peace talks. "It is a grave setback to the peace process. Restarting (the peace process) will be seriously undermined," Jayantha Dhanapala, head of the government body handling the peace process, told reporters. Kadirgamar will be publicly cremated in the capital on Monday with state honors, a Cabinet member said, adding that the government declared it a day of mourning and ordered all the country's cinemas, liquor shops and meat vendors to close that day. The Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict killed nearly 65,000 people before the Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in 2002. On Saturday, the government said it would not take any unilateral action that will amount to violating the cease-fire with the rebels but pledged to take precautions to safeguard its citizens against terror attacks. Government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva said the rebel denial of involvement in the killing was "extremely difficult to accept." The Defense Ministry tightened security across the tropical island, deploying troops to check vehicles in the capital and sending military aircraft to monitor the movement of the rebels. "We have taken the steps" to safeguard our people, said Harim Peiris, a spokesman for President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Kumaratunga, who survived an assassination attempt in 1999, declared a state of emergency Saturday and appealed "for calm and restraint in the face of this grave and cowardly attack" on Kadirgamar. Governments worldwide also condemned the killing as an act of terror and urged the country not to let the slaying drag it back into civil war. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she knew Kadirgamar as a man who had worked hard for peace. "Together, we must honor his memory by rededicating ourselves to peace and ensuring that the cease-fire remains in force," she said in statement released in Washington. India called the assassination a "terrorist crime" and reiterated its support to the island nation's fight against forces seeking to undermine its unity. During a state of emergency, authorities have the power to detain without charge anybody suspected of involvement in terrorist activities and to search and demolish buildings. As dawn broke over Colombo, dozens of military trucks moved into the city and soldiers took up positions at major intersections. The military checked all vehicles coming in and out of the capital, Brig. Daya Ratnayake said. Navy patrol boats also were ordered to guard the coastline, some of which is controlled by the Tigers. Late Friday, elite soldiers and policemen cordoned off the area where the killing occurred, conducting house-to-house searches. Police officer Nimal Lewke said two of the snipers had hidden in a building near Kadirgamar's heavily guarded home in Colombo's diplomatic district and fired through a ventilation hole in an upper floor. Police found cheese and chocolates they ate while they waited for their target, along with a grenade launcher intended as a backup weapon. Ratnayake blamed the rebels for the killing. "We have reasons to believe that he was killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam," Ratnayake said. "He was always under threat." An Oxford-educated lawyer, Kadirgamar led an international campaign against the Tigers, who remain on terrorist lists in five countries, including the United States and Britain. Rebel attacks against Sri Lankan political leaders were once common. Kumaratunga was gravely wounded in the 1999 assassination attempt. Police blamed Tamil rebels for that attack, which killed 26 people. Such high-level attacks stopped after the cease-fire, but tensions recently have increased between the government and the rebels. There has been a surge of attacks in the volatile eastern region, occasionally spilling into the capital, Colombo. "The situation has deteriorated," said Hagrup Haukland, chief of a team of European truce monitors. "It's a big, big blow to the cease-fire and the whole peace process irrespective of who is behind this." He said it was "too early to speculate if there was going to be an outbreak of war." Kadirgamar, a Tamil Christian who was a close aide to Kumaratunga, was appointed foreign minister in April 2004 and held the position from 1994 to 2001. Public Security Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said Kadirgamar's body will lay in state at his official residence until Monday, when it will be cremated Monday in Colombo's Independence Square, where Sri Lanka was declared free from British colonial rule in 1948. |
Sri
Lanka said it did not accept Tamil Tiger rebels' denial of involvement
in the killing of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, which it
described as a "grave setback" to the island's peace process.
The
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was killed with a 7.6 mm
sniper rifle fitted with night-vision equipment, going by the spent
ammunition found on the spot, ballistic experts say.
