LTTE carried out 168 suicide attacks: Sri Lankan Minister

The LTTE carried out 168 suicide attacks between 1984 and 2000, the highest by any outlawed organisation during the same period, a senior Sri Lankan minister has said. "The LTTE carried out 346 attacks targeting innocent civilians in many parts of the country and they killed 3,262 civilians during 1984 to 2006," Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.

The Minister was addressing an election meeting at the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) party office in the North-western Kurunegala Town late last week. "They have killed 2,252 Sinhala civilians, 309 Tamil civilians and 701 Muslim civilians in these attacks and have seriously injured 3,494 people including children, women and even pregnant mothers," he said.

The minister recalled the LTTE assassinated 50 political leaders including President Ranasinghe Premadasa, UNP Presidential election candidate Gamini Dissanayake, ministers D M Dassanayake and Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and veteran politician Lakshman Kadirgamar. They also tried to murder former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the state-run Daily News quoted the minister as saying.

"Many believed that the LTTE was an unbeatable terrorist organisation. But, this government has shown that we can defeat them. Under the administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the government carried out operations against terrorism. We captured Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass for the first time after three decades," de Silva said.