In the final days of closing on the LTTE rebels, who have been fighting for a free state for Tamils in the North and East, the Sri Lankan Government is frustrated by mounting foreign concerns over its war crimes and banned media.
The Sri Lankan Army is at the final stages of removing evidences of the bloody war they have declared on Tamils in the name of rooting out 'terrorism'. When the screens open for the outside world to see what has happened to Tamils in the area, the Sri Lankan Government want obedient and scared Tamils citizens to "praise" the government's effort to "free" the regions from LTTE.
To simplify the job, the Sri Lankan Government has deployed its chemical weapons to cleanse the Tamils and LTTE rebels in the war zones. Civilians have reported vomiting, difficulty in breathing, dizziness and fainting after been subjected to these attacks.
Sources also said that the Sri Lankan Army higher officials wearing mask to protect themselves from the fumes and lower cadets were actually found in distress, who were then transported to Army facilities to get medical help.
The casualties of the current attack remains unknown, however the number is expected to exceed at least 1500 Tamils civilians, who believed to have been living in the areas, in two days, the sources said. The Sri Lankan Army has rushed to clean up the bodies due to the visible burnt marks in these dead bodies due to chemical expose; survived Tamils civilians are anxious over the type and effects of chemicals they have been subjected to, the sources added.
It is known that the Sri Lankan Government purchased chemical weapons in 2001, as reported by the Sunday Leader and the Hindu news papers.
LTTE warns against use of 'chemical weapons'
COLOMBO, AUG. 16, 2001.
The LTTE today accused Sri Lanka of purchasing a banned chemical weapon and warned of "dangerous consequences'' if it was inducted in the battlefields of northeastern Sri Lanka.
The LTTE statement appeared to be referring to the Russian- manufactured RPO-A Shmel rocket launcher without naming it. The Sunday Leader newspaper reported this week that the Government had purchased 1,000 units of the weapon.
The Sri Lankan Army spokesman, Brig. Sanath Karunaratne, confirmed the purchase of the Shmel, but denied it was a chemical weapon or that it was banned.
The RPO-A Shmel is a rocket-propelled incendiary/blast projectile launcher whose warhead contains a ``thermobaric'' flammable mixture, that is, it simulates high pressure conditions when detonated in enclosed structures and in the open.
The use of this weapon by the Russian Army in Chechnya came in for strong criticism by the human rights groups.
Described as a ``bunker buster'', the shoulder-fired weapon uses a fuel-air explosive warhead that is most destructive when detonated inside structures, killing living beings through suffocation and burns, but also causes death and destruction over wide areas.
"We are perturbed over reports that the Sri Lanka Government has purchased new infantry weapon system with chemical warheads... The acquisition of this banned weapon by Sri Lanka marks a new and dangerous escalation of the armed conflict in the island'', the LTTE statement declared.