The Hindu : LTTE hand suspected in two attacks in Sri Lanka

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 28, 2004

International

International

LTTE hand suspected in two attacks in Sri Lanka

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, MARCH 27. Sri Lanka today saw the return of bloody violence, with three Sri Lankan Tamils — including a former Minister and a senior Government officer — shot at by "unidentified gunmen'' in three separate incidents.

T. Maheswaran, former non-Cabinet Minister for Hindu Affairs, was shot at from point blank range after an election rally here tonight. Mr. Maheswaran, a member of the ruling United National Party, is contesting the April 2 Parliamentary elections from Colombo. The National Hospital, where Mr. Maheswaran has been admitted, declined to give a status report on his condition.

The other incident took place in the eastern Batticaloa district, where R. Mounaguruswamy, the Government Agent — the equivalent of an Indian district collector — was shot at. The condition of Mr. Mounaguruswamy is "critical,'' Army sources said.

A member of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), a fierce critic of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), K. Sankaran, was the third person to be targeted today. Mr. Sankaran, however, "narrowly escaped due to `timely evasive action' by him when he saw the assailants target him,'' his party sources said.

The identities of the gunmen in all three incidents have not yet been established.

Sri Lankan military sources, however, suspect the hand of the LTTE in at least two of the three incidents — the Batticaloa GA and the attempt on the EPDP activist. According to military sources, the Batticaloa GA, Mr. Mounaguruswamy, was reportedly ideologically close to the expelled regional military commander, V. Muralitharan (`Col.' Karuna). On March 25, the LTTE passed what is seen as a death order on `Col.' Karuna, when it said it had decided "to get rid'' of him. The attack on Mr. Mounaguruswamy comes two days after an eastern academic was shot at and injured, also in the Batticaloa district.

Mr. Sankaran, according to his party, was targeted in a lane in Colombo this evening, when he was driving an autorickshaw. "As he spotted the assailant early he ducked and escaped unhurt by a hair's breadth,'' EPDP sources

A police complaint has been registered.

In eastern Batticaloa district, Mr. Mounaguruswamy was shot at from point blank range. He received two wounds — one in the neck and one on his arm — and was admitted in a "critical'' condition to the Batticaloa hospital, Army sources said.

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