Twenty LTTE terrorists were killed when Troops advanced and destroyed two bunkers in the Adampan area, and another six bunkers in the Parrappakandal area in Mannar on Friday (05) morning around 9.00 am in two rapid and fiercely executed encounters.Among the 20 dead was the LTTE Military Intelligence Chief Shanmuganathan Ravishankar alias "Charles " of Jaffna aged 35. According to intelligence sources it is confirmed that he was responsible for the organization of many suicide attacks targeting VIP's as well as attacks on targets in Colombo and Kandy.
There were three other junior terrorist leaders killed in the confrontations identified as Sivapalan Sridharan alias "Sukahanthan from Jeyapuram and Pararjasingham Sudhan alias " Veeramaravan " from Mallawi and Sinnathamby Kanagadharan from Wattakadchchi .
"Charles" was responsible for the attack on the historic "Dalada Maligawa" ( "Temple of the Tooth") in Kandy which houses the Tooth relic of the Buddha, the "Enlightened One" in 1998 . The attack damaged the entrance of the "Dalada Maligawa" killing a few soldiers on duty. The "Maligawa" is venerated by the entire Buddhist world built over 500 years ago by the Kings of the Kandyan Kingdom.
He was also responsible for the attack using suicide bombers to drive a truck loaded with explosives into the Joint Operations Command (JOC), at Flower Road , in 1992 which killed nearly 70 people and injured several others including children as well as damaging houses in this fashionable area of Colombo 7. He was involved in the planning and preparation which led to the assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi on 21st May 1991 at Siriperumbudur, in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu.
The attack on the Central Bank, in the heart of Colombo in 1996 killed nearly hundred . Over two hundred were seriously injured and severely damaging the Central Bank and surrounding buildings of the Colonial era . In 1992 "Charles " organized the attack using a suicide bomber riding a motor cycle on the road which adjacent to the Galle Face Green around 8.40 in the morning. The powerful explosion killed the Sri Lanka Commander of the Navy, Vice -Admiral Clancy Fernando opposite Taj Hotel. The suicide bomber rode a motor cycle and triggered the explosives while riding beside the car in which the 52 year old Vice - Admiral was traveling . The explosion killed him , his bodyguard , driver and Flag Lieutenant.
He was also responsible for the attack in Rajagiriya in the year 2000. He had planned several attacks using suicide bombers on the EPDP Minister Douglas Devananda. However these attacks on the Minister were all unsuccessful. The other attacks planned by "Charles" targeted the Ratmalana Air Force Base in 1997 and the attack on the Galadari Hotel in Colombo Fort in 1997.
Source: The Media Centre for National Security (MCNS)
