Attack on Buddhist Pilgrims: LTTE Strategies

“This act of terror, similar to many other acts of savagery directed at innocent civilians before, underscores the continued commitment of the LTTE to violence to achieve their goal of separation.” - President Imgae: After math Bomb blast in Dambulla
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  • 20 Killed: 50 Wounded

    President sends his sincere condolence

    LTTE dream would be another communal riot or religious riot
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  • ( February 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “I vehemently and unequivocally condemn this act of savagery by the LTTE in carrying out the blast in a civilian bus at Dambulla today. Among those killed and injured were many women pilgrims on their way to Anuradapura to participate in a Buddhist ceremony. This shows the reality of the struggle we have to face to eliminate terrorism from our country,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a statement on recent bomb blast in Dambulla.

    I send my sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and my prayers and good wishes for the speedy recovery of those injured, he added.

    The total killed in Dambulla explosion in the bus has now increased to 20 while 50 have been reported injured according to Dambulla Hospital authorities.

    The majority of those passengers in the ill-fretted bus were traveling to the city of Anuradhapura to attend a religious function.

    “I call upon the people to remain calm and refuse to be provoked by this repeated brutality by the LTTE, which in its desperation in the face of defeats inflicted on them by the security Forces, is eager to create a backlash to their terror, to obtain the sympathy of the international community,” the President blamed to the LTTE.

    According to his statement, “this act of terror, similar to many other acts of savagery directed at innocent civilians before, underscores the continued commitment of the LTTE to violence to achieve their goal of separation.”

    In the face of such grave provocation, the people of Sri Lanka must be aware of the many forces that are attempting to obstruct the efforts of the government to eradicate terrorism from our country, and halt the success of the Security Forces in this task today.

    These repeated acts of unmitigated brutality must bring to the attention of the entire civilized world the nature of the terrorism threat that is faced by Sri Lanka, and that is only the most brutal and politically bankrupt movements that are capable of continuing with such acts.

    Meanwhile according to political analyst in Colombo, “The Tiger thrives on catastrophes.Prabhakran dream would be another Black July or religious riot. The LTTE has always gained nourishment from the blood of Tamils. Sinhala mobs on rampage, that abiding nightmare of every Tamil man, woman and child, is the stuff of which Tiger dreams are made. If Sinhalese don the barbarian mantle again, the necessary conditions will be created for an internationally propelled ‘solution’ a la East Timor, Montenegro or Kosovo.”

    “The LTTE needs us to be obnoxiously maximalist, arrogantly extremist; Prabhakaran needs us to violate the human rights of civilian Tamils; he needs Tamils corpses and Tamil refugees, created by our armed forces. The Tigers wants us to sabotage the APRC and refuse to share power with the Tamils; he wants us to antagonise Muslims, Sinhala Christians and the International Community with our intolerance. Most importantly the Tigers is waiting, vulture like, for another Black July in the East or the South,” she added.

    However, with only two more days to go for the Independence day (60) , security in Colombo has been beefed up significantly. A large number of troops from the Army, Air Force, Police and the Police Special Task Force (STF) have been deployed in the City of Colombo fearing LTTE attacks to disrupt the proceedings of the Independence Day. Military Intelligence had previously warned about possible LTTE attacks during this period targeting both military and civilian targets in the south.