Friday's forenoon bomb at the Jaffna Municipal office is compelling evidence, if indeed evidence is needed, that Jaffna is far from normal and the government writ that is claimed to run in the peninsula is nowhere near as effective as state propagandists would have us believe. The stark reality is that the LTTE retains a frightening terrorist capability not only in Jaffna but elsewhere as well. Given its access to fanatical suicide killers, the Tigers have amply demonstrated their ability to strike almost anywhere at will.

What is most frightening about the most recent carnage wrought in the northern capital is that a fifth column is very much at work there. According to yesterday's press reports, the claymore mine that snuffed out so many lives the previous day was concealed between the roof and ceiling of the bombed building. This would obviously have needed some inside collusion with at least the watchers on duty there having either actively assisted or helplessly watched as the LTTE laid the lethal booby trap.

Mao Tse-Tung is credited with the celebrated remark that a guerilla is like a fish in the water, swimming in a sea of popular support. The LTTE may not have the support it once enjoyed in Jaffna when many Tamils, including those living in the relative safety of Colombo, used to affectionately refer to the Tigers as "the boys." But it is certainly not lacking in agents, infiltrators and, no doubt, active supporters even in those areas where the military is ostensibly in control. Though the terrorists may not be operating in an environment of total support and encouragement, their striking power has been repeatedly proved time and again.

Whenever incidents such as Friday's occur, a feeling of stunned disbelief grips the entire nation. Is this really happening in what was once a green and pleasant land? When important people, in this case the Mayor of Jaffna, the brigade commander there, the senior policemen posted to Jaffna, some of the municipality's key administrative and professional personnel and many others die, the newspapers and the airwaves are full of the news. That is in the nature of things as names do make news. But we must not forget that almost every day the lives of humbler people on both sides of the lines are taken in this brutal and seemingly never ending war.

Mr. Ponnathurai Sivapalan, the fallen mayor, was a courageous man. After his predecessor, Mrs. Sarojini Yogeswaran, had been executed by the LTTE for the "crime" of bravely coming forward to serve her people, he would surely not have had the slightest doubt that he was laying his own life on line in donning the robes of office. Yet he chose to do a job that had to be done and he did not take the easy way of trying to run the affairs of the Jaffna Municipality by remote control from Colombo. Whether somebody else will now take his place remains to be seen. Prabhakaran, who began his murderous career by shooting Alfred Duraiappah, another Mayor of Jaffna, long before the intensity of the conflict had reached present proportions may well want nobody to be Mayor of the city from which he was ejected.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga is on record saying that the bomb which killed Sivapalan was targeted not only at him but also on the whole Tamil community. We think that it was more than that. It was targeted on all the Sri Lankan people. The Tigers not only wanted to get the Mayor but they wanted to get as many of the military and police brass whom they knew would be present at the meeting where they struck. They did not care one jot that they would in the process kill many civilians including the municipal officials whom they surely knew would be in attendance. Who they kill, whether they be combat soldiers or policemen or the very people they claim to represent, is of little moment to them. Any means justify their ends and who knows whether they even regard the civilians who died on Friday as collaborators of the enemy.

For the people of Jaffna life will now necessarily become more difficult. Security will have to be tightened and the relaxation of controls that might have made their lives easier may have to be postponed. Ironically, all those who sacrificed their lives were attending a meeting whose objective was to device a traffic plan for Jaffna which would have made the lot of ordinary people in that city easier. The authorities will have to live with the knowledge that the Tigers can be anywhere, indeed they may be everywhere. And that knowledge would make them more careful, more suspicious and less flexible. And those who will pay the price for that will once again be the Jaffna people whom the LTTE claim to represent.

Those of us who live outside the war zone must not quickly forget the latest atrocity or the daily toll of human life that the war is claiming. We must not let only the big incidents grip our attention and then forget the death and misery that is the everyday reality of the war. Our leaders must not waste their energy in sterile, self-serving sniping at each other. The vast majority of the peace loving people of this country know who the enemy is and the sooner we present a united front to the terrorists, the quicker this senseless war will be finished.