A contact in Sri Lanka sent me the following this week:
Yesterday, there was a report of a LTTE attack on farmers in Kantale. Today, there was a report of a LTTE attack on farmers in Welikanda. The news reports paint these as the “fanatical, murderous” actions of the terrorists.
He suggests two other possible explanations:
1. If there were a significant force of LTTE cadres moving south-east, this is the route they would take, and the amount of ground they could cover in a day. The attacks may be killing those who would be witnesses to their movements and troop strength.
2. This could be a small group pretending to be a break-out force heading south.
In any case, he writes,
The Rajapakse administration has bet all their money on containing and eliminating LTTE as a fighting force. If they get away (or if they’ve already gotten away), there is absolutely no reason to continue to hold onto the civilians in the shrunken war zone that the government calls the “safe zone.”