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.