Colombo region Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Bodhi Liyanage said on 21 November that increased vigilance and special security measures have prevented four suicide bombers reaching their primary targets this year, although a number of civilians were killed. The police are particularly on the look out for four suicide bombers whose targets are said to be senior politicians.
Search operations continued in November. A Batticaloa resident who was scheduled to leave for Britain was arrested at Dehiwela on 14 November. Forty young Tamil men and women were rounded-up in Wellawatte suburb on 27 November. After Jaffna MP Maheswaran intervened, 15 were released. A number of youths were also taken into custody in Grandpass suburb on that day. Police say a suspected suicide bomber was arrested near Negombo, 25 miles north of Colombo, following information provided by a Tiger suspect.
Subramaniam Kannan, 23, of Vavuniya, arrested by police on 20 June alleges in a fundamental rights application to the Supreme Court that he suffered severe torture for 42 days. At the time of the arrest he was not informed of the reasons. He was handed over to the Army on 26 June and was beaten repeatedly with batons at the 211 Brigade Army camp in Vavuniya. He was stripped and given electric shocks.
The Army thereafter handed Mr Kannan over to the police Counter Subversive Unit (CSU). His head was covered with a plastic bag dipped in petrol. He was repeatedly assaulted and barbed wire was inserted into the rectum. He was forced to sign a confession under torture in the Sinhala language which he does not understand. Under Emergency regulations and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, a confession made to a police officer is admissible as evidence.
No development is reported in investigations on the killing of 28 Tamils in a rehabilitation centre at Bandarawela in October. The police say 30 youths suspected of involvement in the massacre are absconding. Currently 13 policemen, two soldiers and 26 civilians are in custody over the incident. Fourteen Tamil youths wounded in the attack are being treated in Colombo and Diyatalawe hospitals. Visitors say that the ten youths in Diyatalawe hospital remain handcuffed. According to Colombo agency the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), no one has been allowed to see the four persons receiving treatment at Colombo hospital.