Army intelligence operatives killed in explosion

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 November 2001, 10:14 GMT]
Three members of the Sri Lanka Army’s military intelligence unit in Batticaloa were killed in an explosion in the high security zone of the eastern town around 10.15 a.m. Thursday. A senior member of the group ‘Vinobha’ (Thambi) was seriously wounded. A cashew nut seller was killed and eight civilians were wounded near Munai Street where the suicide bomb exploded. Shops and schools were closed in the town following the explosion.

The SLA cordoned off the area for more than an hour and did not allow reporters inside. Subramaniam Maheswaran (Nithi), a senior operative with the Batticaloa military intelligence unit and his colleague S. Chandrakumar (Dvora) were killed instantly in the explosion, Police sources said. Police said that the explosion was triggered off by a suicide bomber.

S. Ravichandran (Ramesh) died in the hospital. Ramesh, Nithi and Thambi were formerly members of the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). They left the PLOTE in 1992 and were recruited by the Sri Lanka army intelligence. The unit was known as the ‘Mohan Group’ and, according to SLA sources, was very effective in counter-intelligence operations against the Tigers in Batticaloa.

The unit was believed to have been responsible for recent deep penetration strikes in the LTTE held hinterland of the district.