Suicide Bombers or Sinhala Terrorists - Which is worst?

Month of Suicide attack	Year of suicide attack	Number of Deaths
January	1996, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008	154
February	1998, 2008 (3 attacks)	96
March	1991 (2 attacks), 1997 (2 attacks), 1998,1999, 2000 (2 attacks) 2006	93
April	1995, 1996 (2 attacks), 1999, 2006	33
May	1991 (3 attacks), 1993, 1998, 1999 (2 attacks), 2006,	87
June	2000 (2 attacks), 2006	90
July (Black July)	1987 (1st suicide attack), 1990, 1996, 1999 (2 attacks), 2001, 2004	45
August	1995, 1999 (2 attacks), 2000	36
September	1998, 2000	19
October	1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 (2 attacks), 2000 (3 attacks), 2001 (3 attacks) 2006 (2 attacks)	237
November	1990, 1992, 1995 (3 attacks), 1996, 1997, 2001 (2 attacks), 2007	72
December	1995 (3 attacks), 1996. 1997, 1999 (2 attacks), 2006	93

 

The most number of = fatalities by suicide attacks according to years are :

Year	No. of Deaths	Year	No. of Deaths
1987	40	1998	154
1990	9	1999	72
1991	72	2000	143
1992	5	2001	26
1993	24	2004	5
1994	59	2005	13
1995	128	2006	132
1996	134	2007	20
1997	20	2008	12

You will note that following the 2002 ceasefire agreement no cases of suicide attacks were reported in 2002 or 2003. This will not include other acts of bombings that have taken place during this time. However, in 2004, 5 people were killed & 11 others wounded when a suspected woman suicide bomber blew herself up inside a police station in the capital.
Thereafter their spree of killings has continued unabated.

The LTTE also stands accused of killing 48 prominent Tamil leaders including Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mr. Lakshman Kadiragamar. Former Indian Prime Minster Shri Rajiv Gandhi became the LTTE's first international assassination in 1991. It was by far the most significant suicide attempt by a female bomber as the previous 7 acts of suicides could not be compared to the shock that the assassination created. The suicide attempt was immediately followed exactly a month later when another suicide bomber ran a truck laden with explosives into the Joint Operations Command Office at Flower Road, Col 3, killing 21 people & injuring more than 175. Thereafter the LTTE has managed to assassinate 6 Sinhala Parliamentarians including President Ranasinghe Premadasa in
1993 & almost assassinated President Chandrika B. Kumaratunge as well
(1999)

Personal, emotional or social vulnerabilities in sum provide the basis on which women become suicide cadres & why terrorists opt to choose women to train as suicide cadres. The hatred for life & people, hatred of oneself is a good foundation to start off training & it assures preciseness even if detected. On very rare occasions have suicide bombers not been unable to blow themselves up even after being discovered by security personnel.

However, training suicide cadres is time consuming. In an environment wherein the LTTE has enjoyed greater power training such women cadres has been an easy exercise. However, of late we see the LTTE at the receiving end of continuous & precise onslaughts by the armed forces.
Having had to give up the Eastern control the LTTE now subjects its control to a very small area to the North of Sri Lanka. It is in this milieu that the LTTE has opted for another equally lethal mode of attack.

The LTTE have of late discovered another means of creating equal mayhem
- Money. The Sinhalese that have been "bought" by the LTTE to obtain information, plant a bomb in a public place, carry out terrorist attacks, etc have risen in shocking proportions. Known now as "Sinhalese terrorists" these men & women seem to have no conscience for their contribution to the massive loss of lives & property. Who are these people who have sold their soul for a few lakhs? Well surprisingly the list includes not only members of the civilian community but an alarming number have been caught from the armed forces, politicos as well as clergymen. How are we then to distinguish as we attempt to counter the terrorist threat who the real terrorists are? When the LTTE itself operates by guerilla warfare it has another camouflage in the rising number of "Sinhala kotiyas" that now make up its deadly operation. To this list also includes even foreign governments, foreign nationals & even foreign establishments who work en masse with the LTTE.

It is often argued that poverty is what drives some to sell their conscience to "shylock" but that cannot explain the aid & abetting by high ranked officers of the armed forces as well as others who are presently being investigated for their connivance with the LTTE. It is difficult to really pinpoint why these people choose to cohere with the enemy but one thing is certain that it makes life for the armed forces, the Government & the public to identify who amongst the Sinhalese are actually working for the LTTE? The Mount Lavinia bomb, the attack on the base in Anuradhapura, the assassination of Gen. Parami & even the attempted assassination on the Army Commander inside the Army Headquarters display that there are plenty of "Brutus" amongst the Sinhalese. It is the lack of fear for the consequences that we see a surge in the crime rate in Sri Lanka which not only includes those involved in terrorist activity - the death penalty alone doesn't seem to suffice in people having a fear for doing wrong. Perhaps it then beckons to ask whether we should in fact implement Saudi Arabia's Sharia Law?

It is not something that any Sinhalese today would be proud to admit but it would be pointless hiding the truth either, which really once again reinforces the fact that the LTTE remains nothing but a terrorist unit that seeks to destabilize the country & its Government & will work as mercenaries for this end & its connections with international forces that also seeks to undermine & destabilize the country also holds true.

Shenali Waduge