by Shamindra Ferdinando

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) held crisis talks with the STF top brass, and the LTTE yesterday in a bid to ensure that Wednesday evening’s clash at Kanjirankudah, the first serious confrontation since the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement on February 22, would not lead in to tit-for-tat attacks, authoritative sources said. The sources were convinced that there would not be further incidents relating to the Kanjirakudah clash.

Seven persons were killed and over a dozen suffered injuries when police commandos opened fire on LTTE cadres who stormed Kanjirankudah STF detachment situated about 84 kms south of Batticaloa. Of them, two were identified as LTTE cadres, Vijayaprakash and Nagarasa.

Vijayaprakash was identified as one of the persons released by the Attorney General’s Department following the signing of the ceasefire agreement.

About 500-600 persons were involved in the clash. Some of them including LTTE cadres stormed the detachment, destroyed security lights, cut fences, and set fire to some huts.

There were two groups. One group moved from Sagama and the other Tirukkovil.

The STF said that although they managed to identify only two attackers, they believe almost all the dead were LTTE cadres.

Vijayaprakash had been arrested by officers of the same detachment a few months ago. "He was detained under the PTA," the STF said.

Their attack was similar to the September 2 raid on the army’s 52.4 Brigade Headquarters at Point Pedro and the October 1 storming of the Valaichchenai police station, a senior STF spokesman said. The LTTE ‘deployed’ mainly students when cadres led attacks on the Brigade Headquarters and the Valaichchenai police station. The LTTE also ‘deployed’ students in Vavuniya where they threw stones at police and set fire to tyres earlier this week. Vavuniya protest was in support of its strategy to secure the release of hundreds of detained terrorist suspects.

The LTTE would not have tried to storm the STF detachment if the ceasefire monitors acted firmly when it engaged in serious violations of the agreement, the STF said.

However, the attack on the STF detachment was obviously carried out by the LTTE. Attackers came from their camp at Rufaskulam set up after the ceasefire agreement. The LTTE took advantage of the agreement to move into Rufaskulam situated within the government-held area although it prevents either side from setting up base on each other’s area.

"There were no students, at least in uniforms. They used a group of civilians as a human shield," the STF said. They stormed the defended area. Tear gas failed to stop them, the STF said, adding that commandos fired several rounds to keep them away. "They failed. There was no option. We had to act to prevent them from destroying the entire base," the source said, expressing the belief that it was a part of the LTTE’s strategy to force the government to close down the detachment. They did a lot of damage, the STF said.

SLMM officials met with representatives of both sides to discuss issues relating to the incident.

STF Commandant DIG Nimal Gunatilake and Deputy Commandant SSP Nimal Lewke yesterday visited Kanjirankudah STF detachment to assess the situation.

The STF said that some of the attackers died on the spot within the ‘defended area.’ Their bodies were recovered by the STF. However, some bodies were removed by the LTTE.

Seven police commandos suffered injuries, the STF said, stressing that they fired at the attackers only after the detachment came under fire.

The LTTE claimed that the dead were civilians protesting an unprovoked attack by the STF on the LTTE. It claimed that a local LTTE leader (Pottuvil) identified as M. Visuvanthan and a cadre, Christy Rajah were brutally assaulted by a group of police commandos outside the detachment. The STF disputed the claim. "They were stopped because they acted suspiciously," the STF said, stressing that commandos did not attack them. In fact they tried to get themselves admitted to the area hospital.

The STF ridiculed the LTTE claim that civilians angered by the morning’s incident surrounded the detachment. The STF and the military said that the LTTE forced civilians and the student population to engage in all sorts of protests and demonstrations in support of their strategy aimed at weakening the security forces presence in the north-east. The STF asked "even if only civilians were involved in the protest, what were they doing within the detachment?. "Their protest should have been outside the detachment not inside," the STF said.