Face -to-face with a human bomb

A Sri Lankan journalist tries to find out why a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber would want to blow himself up

Earlier this year, I found myself seated face-to-face with a would-be suicide bomber, the most dreaded weapon in the arsenal of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- better known as the Tamil Tigers. Until their battlefield defeat earlier this year, the LTTE dreamed that their long campaign of terrorism would help them carve an independent Tamil homeland out of northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

As we talked, I felt comfortable in the knowledge that the man would not blow himself up: The location was a high-security law-enforcement facility, staffed by Sri Lankan officers seeking to track down the remnants of the LTTE's "Black Tiger" terrorist unit.

The date and time of my interview, as well as the bomber's intended target prior to his capture, cannot be divulged in this article -- as such information could hamper ongoing investigations of LTTE operatives who are still at large. However, his description of his training, indoctrination and methodology are of great interest to anyone seeking to understand the rise and fall of the LTTE as a military and terrorist force.

During the course of our interview, I made sure to maintain eye contact at all times -- so as to ensure the man would not lie to me. He claims to be 26 years old, has short-cropped hair, a clean-shaven face and a tan. At first appearance, no one would take this innocent-looking prisoner to be an LTTE suicide bomber. But on closer examination, I noticed scars on his skin, one sign of rigorous battle training.

I tried my best to gain his confidence, providing him with meals of Masala, ghee thosai, Chinese fried rice and ice cream. I wanted him to feel comfortable enough so that he would share with me the minutest details regarding his life -- before, during and after he became a suicide bomber. My intention was to probe the how and why of what he became. Over the course of two weeks, I visited the suicide bomber -- whom we shall call Rajadurai Ganesh -- on multiple occasions, using a trusted interpreter to communicate.

I will now begin narrating Ganesh's story from his own first-person perspective.

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From the day I began to see this world with some sort of understanding, I never knew who the [Sri Lankan] Sinhalese [majority] were, or what the Sri Lanka Army was. I only saw the LTTE cadres carrying their weapons like real heroes. My mother always persuaded me to concentrate on my studies. I have two sisters and a brother. I loved them very much, as I was the eldest in our family.

One day, while I was on my way to the local shop at Puthukkudyiruppu [on Sri Lanka's east coast] to get our rations, the LTTE took me forcibly for training. That is how I became a child soldier. After nearly two years of training, they gave me permission to visit my family. I went home and when I met my sisters and brother, I persuaded them to continue their studies. But I decided to become a "Black Tiger" [the LTTE's suicide-bombing corps].

One day, while observing a queue at the shop where people buy their rations, I noticed an elderly lady arriving to get her rations. I noticed that almost all those in the queue gave her preference to go right to the front and get her rations first. I also noticed that the shop owner did not even charge her a single cent for her purchases. What's more, two persons even volunteered to carry her bags for her.

When I inquired as to who this lady was, and why all the preference for her over the others, they told me that she was the mother of a Black Tiger who had died in a [suicide] mission. The LTTE had a concept that if any person from a family joined the organization as a suicide cadre, the other members of the family would not be recruited into the organization--and the family would be treated as a "Maveerar Family" [Hero family] and provided for in regard to all their needs.

This fact prompted me to decide [that this was] the best way to protect my family -- to protect my sisters and brother from being recruited, and at the same time drawing respect from others toward my family.

So one day, I told my unit leader --a man named Nagesh -- that I wanted to become a suicide cadre. The following day, he took me to [the town of ] Vishvamadu. There, I was confined to a room and was not allowed to associate with anyone. It was like being imprisoned.

I was taken out for training by a personal caretaker. I was always blindfolded. Even during the lectures, I was kept blindfolded. But I realized from the sounds around me that there were many others being trained.

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To accomplish a suicide mission, one needs not only the human bomb, but a handler. The handler takes the bomber to [the capital of ] Colombo or the other [target] area. Another person transports the suicide kit separately from the handler. Once the bomber is safely established in the area, he or she prepares for the mission.

Meanwhile, LTTE intelligence cadres gather information on the target, and pass it to an overseas contact. The suicide bomber gets the exact details from the overseas contact to carry out the mission. This is how the LTTE's Black Tiger suicide network operates.

Every day, the lecturers stressed one main point: There will be no Eelam [Tamil homeland] without bloodshed. During these lectures, we were never allowed to ask questions. And even if one asked a question, it was never answered. These lectures continued for two months every day.

I was taken to lunch while still being blindfolded. When I was confined to my room [and without blindfold], I noticed that the caretaker was observing my every move. After around two months, a television and a video player were installed in my room. One night, when I was fast asleep, my caretaker woke me up and switched on the TV. I saw people screaming, some lying in pools of blood, others dead or dismembered. For about another two weeks, this video was repeatedly shown. This was followed by [footage of] the LTTE [fighting] against Sri Lankan security forces, showing their attacks on army positions and camps.

After that, I was sent for practical training. First, I watched others making suicide kits and jackets. They made me wear dummy jackets, without explosives but with the same weight as with explosives. They made me walk and run while wearing these, so as to make me comfortable with them. They hung a piece of wood resembling a cyanide capsule around my neck and made me bite it from time to time.

After being trained wearing dummy suicide kits, I was made to wear a real kit with explosives included. They made me walk and run while wearing it to observe whether I [could do so without raising] any suspicions.

Following that, I was trained in targeting a moving motorcade. They set up a [dummy] convoy. I had to carry out a mock attack. During this mock operation, instead of explosives, the suicide jacket contained a red stain, like ink or paint, and I had to get close to a certain vehicle within the convoy and press the detonator button. Once I pressed this button, the red paint would splash and they would check how accurately I had hit the target. I had to undergo training till I perfected the art of hitting the target accurately.

At the end of this training, Black Tiger leader Pottu Amman visited us and gave a long lecture.

He said to us: "You are [an] asset of the LTTE. You are not supposed to bite on your cyanide capsule as soon as you think you are to be caught. Keep your cyanide concealed. If apprehended, you have to try and convince the security-forces personnel that you are really an innocent Muslim textile trader. Try to accomplish your mission at whatever cost. If you really believe that you cannot escape, then bite your cyanide capsule. You have to be alive as long as you can and continue to accomplish your task."

After two weeks of training, I could walk and run comfortably wearing a suicide kit. I felt that I was now a real human bomb and felt proud of it. I believed that my name would be written in letters of gold in the history of Tamil Eelam, and that my family members would be respected for the rest of their lives.

[For my mission], I had to appear as a Muslim person. During this period, I had to grow my beard and maintain it to resemble that of a Muslim. I was given instructions in the practices of a Muslim and when a LTTE medical team arrived, I was circumcised as well, making my appearance as a Muslim complete.

They tried to teach me some basic Sinhalese language. But I found it very difficult and never grasped it thoroughly. They also gave me a thorough training in all aspects of the textile trade. I became accustomed with the current prices, the varieties, textures, colours that are popular.

Before I left, I was given an identity card that carried the name of a Muslim. I was instructed to accompany another person, who in turn would hand me over to my handler. While travelling to [the northern town of] Vavuniya from Vishvamadu, I was stopped at a security checkpoint and they asked me where I was going. I told them that I was going to Vavuniya to purchase some textiles. They let me pass and I was relieved -- as that was my first experience of being checked in my new identity.

Once I reached Vavuniya, I received a second identity card, which stated that I was a resident of [the ancient city of ] Anuradhapura. I was provided with samples of textiles and a list containing the telephone numbers of textile merchants in Pettah [a suburb of Colombo]. I realized that I could pass off as a Muslim trader without arousing the suspicions of anyone.

I then proceeded to [the southern part of Sri Lanka], where my handler provided me with accommodation. I was given a copy of the Koran and a prayer-bead chain. My handler instructed me not to associate closely with anyone in the area. He said the LTTE intelligence wing would be monitoring my each and every move. He warned that if I tried to escape, I would be killed by them.

I got used to my role so much so that even if someone visited me, I used to speak a few words about Islam, as is the usual practice among Muslims.

A shop near where I stayed was owned by a Tamil person. But I was under strict instructions from my handler not to acquaint myself with that person. Even if I had to purchase something from the shop, I had to do so and depart as quickly as possible. One day, I came across the Tamil shop owner speaking in fluent Sinhalese to another person who was Sinhalese. This surprised me: During our training in the LTTE, we were impressed upon that the Sinhalese were the bitterest rivals of the Tamils.

One day, my handler arrived and told me to get myself ready for my mission. He said my suicide kit would be provided soon. He gave me a mobile phone and said that a caller from overseas would instruct me regarding my target, its identity and the rest of the details once the LTTE intelligence completed its surveillance on it.

Thereafter, my handler took me in a vehicle around Colombo to familiarize me with the city. I really thought that I had come to a different world.

During the days, my handler took me around Colombo, I became friendly with him. I asked him about my family members. He said he would let me know later after inquiries. One day, he told me that the LTTE had recruited both my sisters and brother -- and that they too had been sent to the battlefield.

Upon hearing that, I knew that my siblings would never come out of it alive. I was disgusted. I really wanted to blow myself up after that. I did not have a purpose to my life any longer.

But I felt helpless. I just remained where I was. I waited for my suicide jacket and further instructions, even though I was confused.

One night, I heard my handler outside my door, calling me by name. I stepped outside to meet him -- to find the security forces waiting to arrest me.

Initially, during the interrogations I insisted that I was just another Muslim trader. But by then it was too late. My handler had already confessed and revealed my true identity. They retrieved my cyanide capsule, too. And after that, here I am, revealing the A to Z of my involvement with the Black Tigers of the LTTE.

[At this point, the interviewer interrupts Ganesh Rajadurai]

Interviewer Do you want to carry out a suicide mission again? Rajadurai Well, now I don't want to. Interviewer Why?

Rajadurai Our leadership has been wiped out by the security forces. Interviewer Do you believe that [LTTE leader] Velupillai Prabhakaran has been killed?

Rajadurai Initially, I never thought he would be killed by the security forces. That is because there was a firm belief among the LTTE membership that Prabhakaran would not be killed by the army. He would bite his cyanide capsule and commit suicide rather than be captured or be killed. When I later heard that the army had killed Prabhakaran -- and that [a senior LTTE cadre member had admitted this was likely true], I was surprised. [This was the] leader who had introduced the philosophy of biting a cyanide capsule so as to not be captured alive or killed [by the enemy]. He had not practised the philosophy he so fervently preached.

[Tears well up and streak down Ganesh's cheeks.]

Interviewer Why are you shedding tears? For Velupillai Prabhakaran? Rajadurai No not for any [of the LTTE]. I remember my two sisters and my brother. Can you please find out if they are still alive? Can you please do that for me? - Ruwan Weerakoon is a Sri Lankan journalist. A longer version of this article originally appeared in the Sri Lankan publication The Bottom Line.

Ruwan Weerakoon, National Post Published: Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Source: National post