No LTTE Camp or Bomb Factory in the “Palei” Forest: What Was Really Happening On Cleared Reserve Land in Kilinochchi?

Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel

More than sixteen years after the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, the fear of the LTTE re-arming still travels fast. So, when a rights group told a press conference that a bomb-making camp was rising in secret inside the Palei forest in the north, the claim spread rapidly and struck a raw national-security nerve. In response to reader requests, we traced the story to its source. This is what our investigation uncovered.

Social Media Posts: The Alleged LTTE Camp in the Palei Forest

An organisation calling itself the Inter-Continental Human Rights Commission convened a media briefing at which its Executive Director, Sangeeth Jayasekara, laid out sensational claims of an LTTE training camp and bomb-manufacturing facility hidden within the Palei forest. He alleged that nearly 49 acres of government-owned forest land had been cleared, and that a three-story concrete structure was rising there without any government or local-authority approval, with roughly 100 to 150 people arriving at the site daily under the guise of a foreign-funded venture.

He further claimed that Sinhalese residents in the area, alongside forest officials, suspected this covert construction activity was an attempt to establish an LTTE training camp and a bomb-manufacturing workshop. He noted that seven cases had already been filed against the activity by the Palei Range Forest Officer (RFO), and, since construction continued regardless, called on authorities to investigate immediately and safeguard national security.

Facebook

Further posts were also circulated widely on social media, as follows:

Facebook  |  Archived Link  |  Facebook  |  Facebook

We therefore set out to verify the truth behind this claim.

Fact-Check: 

No Terrorist Camp in the Reserve, Says the IGP

Inspector General of Police, Attorney-at-Law Priyantha Weerasooriya, categorically stated that no terrorist training camp or bomb-manufacturing facility existed within the reserve forest in the Palei area of Kilinochchi. Investigations into the claims revealed instead that several acres of the reserve had been cleared not for weapons, but to operate a farm and a garment factory. He confirmed this directly to a newspaper, as shown here.

The garment factory, equipped with Juki sewing machines inside a three-story building, was reported to be operated by a Tamil businessman from the Kilinochchi area, who also cultivated crops, including aloe vera, on the site. The farm and factory together were said to have employed over 100 local residents.

Legal action had since been filed against the landowner and his associates over unauthorised construction within the reserve, with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) continuing further inquiries. The IGP also directed senior officers to investigate those responsible for sensationalising the site as a terrorist camp.

When contacted, the Officer-in-Charge of Palei Police Station likewise confirmed that no deforestation, LTTE training camp or bomb-manufacturing facility existed in the Palei area, though a separate case of forest clearing had been reported from a location called Akkarayan.

Regional Journalists: The Incident Was in Akkarayan, Not Palei

We contacted local journalists in the Kilinochchi area, who said that, back in July, several individuals had been arrested for clearing a reserved area in Akkarayan, a separate location within the same Kilinochchi District. They noted that this incident was now being discussed on social media as though it had occurred in Palei.

They further noted that the forest clearing had taken place under the guise of tidying up a privately owned plot of land, that a building had already existed at the site beforehand, and that the clearing was reportedly carried out to start agricultural activities. One local journalist also stated that rehabilitated former LTTE members had been involved in the land-clearing operation. The building on the site, they said, was being used as a garment-sewing factory, the land housed a farm growing crops including aloe vera, and a large number of people commuted there for work.

The Complainant: ICHRC Executive Director Sangeeth Jayasekara

The complaint regarding this incident was filed by Sangeeth Jayasekara, Executive Director of a private organisation known as the Inter-Continental Human Rights Commission (ICHRC). Having held a media briefing on the claim and stated that he possessed evidence, we contacted him directly for further information.

Though Called “Palei,” the Incident Fell Within Akkarayankulam Police Jurisdiction

Sangeeth Jayasekara stated that, although referred to as Palei, the area fell under the jurisdiction of the Akkarayankulam Police Division, and that the name Palei had not been used based on the actual police jurisdiction. He said a three-story building existed within the forest under Akkarayan Police jurisdiction, and that it appeared to be under development as a facility for producing bombs and weapons to revive the LTTE.

He noted that, while the forest was being cleared, Police Special Task Force officers had conducted a raid there recently, during which those present had reportedly behaved aggressively. He also shared with us the case records, evidence and photographs filed by the Range Forest Officer. Examining these photographs, it was evident that a substantial portion of the forest had, in fact, been cleared, and that a three-story building did exist there.

Drone photograph dated 2026.04.06

Site photographs dated 2026.02.09

The ICHRC Letter to the President and Security Chiefs, 31 July 2026

Sangeeth Jayasekara also shared the letter the ICHRC had sent to the President and heads of the security forces on 31 July 2026. It alleged that a tract of land between 39 and 45 acres within the Akkarayan reserve forest had been forcibly seized, ringed with barbed wire, and crowned with a three-story concrete building at one end.

The letter claimed that forest officials and other authorities believed the structure was being prepared as a launching point for reviving Tamil Eelam activities. It alleged that the building’s ground floor operated as a garment factory, employing between 100 and 150 men and women from surrounding villages, and that although the site had been described as an aloe vera cultivation, forest-officer records and drone footage across seven court cases showed the main suspect cultivated aloe vera on only about 10 perches of the seized land. The letter went further, asserting that the site was being covertly developed to manufacture bombs and weapons to revive the LTTE.

What the Case Records Presented as Evidence Actually State

We examined the “B” Reports submitted to us as evidence and investigated what the charges filed by the Range Forest Officer actually pertained to. These cases had been filed at the Kilinochchi Magistrate’s Court against the primary suspect and his associates over the illegal, forcible seizure of the Akkarayan reserve forest, its deforestation, and unauthorised construction. The charges centred on a resident of Kannakipuram West, identified as the main suspect, for illegally clearing reserve forest land near the Mukkombam village boundary and for erecting concrete pillars, tin sheeting, barbed-wire fencing, and several buildings.

Neither the official court records nor the B Reports filed by the Department of Forest Conservation contained a single mention of terrorist activity, the LTTE, or bomb and weapons manufacturing. Every record related exclusively to violations of Sri Lanka’s Forest Conservation Ordinance, namely:

• Illegally and forcibly seizing reserve forest land.
• Felling valuable trees such as Palu and Vira, storing timber, and clearing forest land.
• Constructing concrete pillars, barbed-wire fencing, brick buildings, and temporary shelters without authorisation.
• Bringing in and operating unlicensed backhoes (JCBs), tractors, and other vehicles within the reserve.
• Setting fire to sections of the forest.

Mainstream Media Reported a Forest Raid, not a Terror Camp

Having traced the incident to Akkarayankulam Police jurisdiction, we checked whether mainstream media had reported the raid. Acting on intelligence that a group was clearing forest with a JCB machine within the Akkarayan reserve at Mukkampan, wildlife officers and Special Task Force personnel from the Kilinochchi camp carried out a joint raid on 24 July. As officials moved to arrest the suspects and seize the machine, the suspects resisted, obstructed officials, and assaulted both wildlife and STF officers. STF officers ultimately arrested nine individuals, seized the machine, and produced them at Akkarayankulam Police Station. Related media reports are here, here and here.

Not even one of these reports made any mention of an LTTE training camp, a hidden building, or a bomb-manufacturing facility.

Police Media Spokesperson’s Office: A Land Dispute, Not Terrorism

When we contacted the Police Media Spokesperson’s Office, they confirmed that 21 acres had been cleared and that a building existed at the site. That building housed a garment factory, alongside an aloe vera cultivation and further vegetable farming nearby, with roughly 100 people employed there.

A case remained pending in court over the clearing of the forest land, with the individual claiming ownership asserting a legitimate right to it. The Range Forest Officer, however, had designated the area as reserve land under gazette notification and had filed cases against the individual on several occasions. The man claiming ownership had also lodged an appeal with the High Court asserting his right to the land.

Crucially, the office confirmed that investigations had found no evidence whatsoever that the site was, or could be, a location for terrorist activity. The pending cases and arrests related strictly to land-ownership disputes and matters such as the falling of valuable timber. While a genuine land dispute persisted, the Police Media Division was emphatic that investigations had uncovered nothing pointing to terrorism.

Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Nalinda Jayatissa: The Claim Is Entirely False

On 18 August 2026, Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Nalinda Jayatissa officially declared that the information spreading on social media, claiming an LTTE training camp existed in the Palei/Akkarayan forest, was entirely false and baseless. He confirmed that the incident had taken place in the Mukkampan area of the Kannakipuram (West) Grama Niladhari Division, within Akkarayankulam Police jurisdiction, Kilinochchi District, on land designated as reserve forest under Gazette Notification No. 764 of November 1919.

Forest clearing within the reserve had been reported since 2025, with a three-story building, later expanded to four floors, reported under construction as of January 2026. The identified landowner, Thyagaraja Gunadeepan, initially cleared 10 acres before expanding, without authorisation, to roughly 20 acres, cultivating aloe vera and vegetables while operating a machine-equipped garment factory in the building. More than 100 village residents had reportedly found employment there, and the factory was said to be registered with the Registrar General’s Department.

Forest officials had conducted several raids and filed seven separate cases against the landowner. On 6 February 2026, the Kilinochchi Magistrate barred him from entering the site, a ban that remained in force, with the next hearing set for 25 August. Police had also filed a further case over unauthorised sand mining and transportation, and on 24 July 2026, nine individuals, including the landowner, were arrested with STF assistance for obstructing officials. These individuals have since been arrested and released on bail on multiple occasions, with the case still before the courts.

The Minister was unequivocal: claims of an LTTE training camp or bomb-manufacturing facility at the site were entirely fabricated. The real story, he stressed, was one of illegal construction and forest clearing that had quietly continued for a year and a half, and legal action was now underway against those responsible for manufacturing and spreading the false narrative.

The Person Behind the “Terrorist Camp” Press Conference Was Arrested

On 19 August 2026, the individual who convened the press conference that ignited claims of a terrorist training camp and bomb-manufacturing facility in the Palei forest was taken into police custody.

A Wider Pattern of Reserve-Forest Clearing in the Akkarayan/Kilinochchi Area

Reserve-forest clearing by residents in the Akkarayan/Kilinochchi area was not an isolated incident, but part of a broader, ongoing land dispute between the Forest Conservation Department and local residents. In February 2026, at the Kilinochchi District Coordinating Committee meeting, Governor N. Vethanayahan urged the Forest Conservation Department to release the 10,821 acres of land recommended by the District Secretariat to the public. Further details are here.

Join Us

Join us to learn more about our fact-check investigations.

Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Google News  |  TikTok

Conclusion

Information circulating on social media alleged that an LTTE training camp and bomb-manufacturing facility lay hidden within the Palei reserve, an allegation first raised by Sangeeth Jayasekara of the ICHRC. Our investigation revealed a very different picture. The actual site was not Palei at all, but reserve forest land in the Akkarayan reserve, in the Kannakipuram area under Akkarayankulam Police jurisdiction, Kilinochchi District, where roughly 21 acres had been cleared and a three-story building constructed.

Neither our investigation nor official court records uncovered any evidence that terrorist activity was occurring or being planned. The building housed a garment factory, while the surrounding land supported crop cultivation, including aloe vera. The cases pending against the individual claiming ownership, filed by the Range Forest Officer, related strictly to violations of the Forest Conservation Ordinance. Both the Police Media Division and Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Nalinda Jayatissa confirmed that nothing pointed to terrorism, and the individual behind the press conference that sparked the false claim was taken into police custody on 19 August 2026.