| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| "They Want To Kill Me" |
| 2003-08-20 |
| Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s office claimed on Wednesday that LTTE’s suicide squads had infiltrated into Colombo and were planning to kill her. "They (rebels) have carried out surveillance and we have very credible information that they are now planning to assassinate the president," Kumaratunga’s spokesman, Harim Peiris, told a news conference. Kumaratunga escaped a rebel assassination attempt in 1999 with injuries, including a lost eye, in a suicide attack that killed at least 19 people. I’d be a little nervous. She opposes the granting of wide concessions to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and also holds reservations about a cease-fire agreement, signed by her main political rival, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the Tigers in February 2002. It’s one of those one-sided ceasefires. "Our information suggest that the LTTE’s Black Tigers squads have infiltrated into Colombo and are ready," Peiris said. Black Tigers are the rebels’ suicide fighters, blamed for the deaths in past years of former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premedasa and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. OK, I’d be very nervous. Peiris said that security for Kumaratunga had been strengthened. "We have information that some LTTE cadres stayed in a hotel near the president’s house and carried out surveillance," Peiris said. Under the cease-fire agreement, rebels can enter government-controlled territory unarmed. That’s handy, for them at least. There was no immediate comment from the rebels, who have left the peace process in limbo since pulling out of talks with the government in April. Reloading. Kumaratunga, 57, is guarded by Presidential Security Division, made up of 1,000 men and women and rarely comes out of her well-fortified home in Colombo. Her term as head of state ends in 2005. Bet she’s counting the days. |
| Posted by:Steve |