Plot to kill Kumaratunga uncovered

Plot to kill Kumaratunga uncovered

COLOMBO (Reuter): Sri Lankan police have arrested a senior
Tamil Tiger rebel suicide squad member planning to assassinate
President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the state-owned Sunday Observer
newspaper reported.

The 26-year-old suspect, Anthonypillai Nesarajah, also known
as Major Rahu Appa, had videotaped Temple Trees, Kumaratunga's
official residence, from a high-rise building in the capital
Colombo, the paper said.

He had also revealed plans to attack helicopters used to
transport senior government officials, it said.

A military spokesman said he had no information on the report.

A Tamil Tiger spokesman in London, Anton Rajah, said he had no
information on the report but said the government has arrested
innocent Tamil civilians and then falsely claimed they were
members of the rebel group.

Government officials have said Kumaratunga is planning to move
from her heavily guarded residence in the heart of Colombo to a
more secure location in the suburbs.

Kumaratunga's Temple Trees residence is protected by radar,
anti-aircraft guns and bunkers. Several roads in the
neighborhood have been closed to traffic.

Tamil Tiger rebels are believed to have acquired microlight
aircraft for suicide attacks on targets like government leaders,
military officials said.

Nesarajah has also claimed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) rebels were holding nearly 100 Sri Lankan military
officials and Indian intelligence agents at a secret bunker in
northwestern Mannar, the paper said.

It did not say if any of the detainees were Indian nationals.

LTTE rebels are fighting for an independent homeland for
minority Tamils in the north and east of the island. The
country's majority people are Sinhalese.