Tiger suspect commits suicide

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 1998, 07:44 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) in Mannar town said that a youth wearing an explosives packed jacket committed suicide by taking biting his cyanide capsule yesterday afternoon around 1.30 during a search operation by the coast.

The army and Police had jointly searched Kaattuppalli, a shrub covered spot close to the beach, in the Patrimonial suburb of Mannar town upon a tip off about the presence of some Liberation Tigers area.

The Police said that the body of the youth was taken to the Mannar town commander's camp for further investigations and it was later sent to the Mannar base hospital for inquest and postmortem.

A grenade, two cyanide capsules, two letters in Tamil and card bearing a message in Sinhala, English and Tamil which said "I am filled with high explosives. If my journey is blocked, I will explode it. Let me go." were found on the youth's body said Mannar Police sources.

Last night some unidentified armed youth, suspected to be members of the Liberation Tigers, attempted to kill Mohammed Khan, a resident of the same area, the police said.

The person, however, escaped with injuries and has been immediately removed to the government hospital in Anuradhapura. Sources said that it Mohammed Khan was suspected of being an informant working for the security forces.