LTTE’s game of ransom in Colombo and Jihad’s activities in East

LTTE has demanded a rupee one million ransom from the owner of the Ideal Guest lodge in Wellawatte as compensation for the loss of two claymore mines detected at the lodge on a tip-off by the owner. Addressing the weekly press briefing in Colombo on August 22, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jayantha Wickremeratna, said that Ratnasinghe Selvaraja, the lodge owner, made this complaint to police on August 21-evening. "The LTTE has threatened to abduct his son or his father if he fails to pay a rupee one million ransom," Wickremeratna added. As reported earlier police recovered two claymore mines (weighing about 9-kg and 5-kg) and three hand grenades, from Ideal Guest in Colombo on August 15.

Meanwhile, troops recovered war like items during search operations conducted in the different areas of Batticaloa district on August 21. At Tharavei and Arasavikulam, they recovered 33 APMs, one claymore mine, one 120-mm mortar bomb, 16 rocket propeller grenade launcher bombs, 30 APM fuses and 1.5-kg of C-4 explosives. Troops also recovered two T-56 light machine guns with two drums and 200 rounds of T-56 ammunition in the Punani area. Two claymore mines and a 10-m long flexible wire was recovered from the Pulipanchikal area. At Manirasakulam, one shot gun and two locally made hand guns was seized. Elsewhere, one car, one Dolphin van, one canter lorry, three motorbikes and one double-cab was recovered from the Dhabageliyada and Narakamulla areas.

Sources in Batticaloa say one Jihad armed group, an armed group mainly of the Muslims in the Eastern Province, has recently killed two Tamils in the East. On August 20, they killed Jeyaraj at Jinna Nagar, a suburb located at the Third Mile Post, three-km north of Trincomalee town. On the same day, gunmen killed Thiyagachandran, elder brother of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa Parliamentarian S. Jeyananthamoorthy, at Valaichchenai in the Batticaloa district. In a statement, the Eelam Revolutionary Organization (EROS) revealed that one of its members, known within EROS as "Gerald" otherwise known as Jeyaraj, was shot dead by a man identified as "Nizam" who is affiliated to the Jihad armed group. The Jihad armed group have been in existence since 1985 and known to have targeted political opponents and civilians in the past. However, this is the first time the Jihad group who are based in parts of Trincomalee, Ampara and Batticaloa have begun to target Tamils from the East.