Setting the record straight on Kathiraveli tragedy

The passenger ferry, Green Ocean chartered by the Commissioner General of Essential Services was sailing to Trincomalee with 300 civilians aboard.

The passenger ferry was taken on lease last month for civilian transport after the heavy fighting at the forward defence lines in Muhamalai- Nagarkovil closed the Alpha 9 highway, the only road link between the Jaffna peninsula and the rest of the country.

Three Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FAC) were on escort of the passenger ferry. When the ferry was sailing off Nagar Kovil, the sailors aboard the FACs intercepted a flotilla of sea Tiger boats. The boats were launched from Thalaiadi about six km from Nagar Kovil. Sailors counted 16 boats which were sailing along the coast parallel to the movement of the passenger ferry.

Incident

At 5.30 pm boats move towards the vessel, cutting in to the deep sea, firing at the Dvora fast attack craft. Sailors charged back and the Navy later said at least eight sea Tiger boats were destroyed.

As the Naval FACs exchanged fire with the sea Tiger boats, two suicide boats broke away from the sea Tier flotilla and charged towards the Naval craft.

An explosive laden suicide craft rammed on the Dvora Fast Attack Craft (P 416) sinking the naval craft off Velvetithurai at 5. 40 pm.

Another suicide boat rammed on a second Dvora FAC (P 461). The impact of the explosion, damaged the naval craft and it sank later.

Meanwhile, air support was called on. Kafir fighter jets and MI24 gun ships engaged with the sea Tiger boats as they were retreating.

There were reports that another flotilla of sea Tiger boats were prepared for the launching from Challai. Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said Air Force sank 14 sea Tiger boats.

Verification of the LTTE casualty figures was however not possible. Later in the day, the Navy rescued eight sailors. The LTTE said four sailors including one sailor who was injured were in the Tiger custody.

They are as identified as Kamal Hemantha Kusumasiri, Samantha Kumara Hewage, Indika Prasantha Pitiyakumbura of P 461 and Anil Priyanka Mahadeniya who was injured during the suicide explosion of P 416.

Twenty five sailors are still missing in action and feared dead. Though the Navy continued in search operations on Friday, it did not yield results.

Attemped attack

Thursday's attack was very much reminiscent to the foiled sea Tiger attack on the security forces personnel carrier MV Pearl Cruiser which had 800 passengers on board at the time sea Tigers attempted to attack it off Nagar Kovil a few months ago.

A Dvora FAC was destroyed and another damaged during that confrontation during which 50 sea Tigers were believed to have been killed.

Meanwhile, in the early morning of Friday, sea Tigers attempted on another Dvora FAC, North of Trincomalee off the Nilaveli coast.

The Dvora FAC which was on a routine sea patrol intercepted two sea Tigers craft off Nilaveli and engaged with it. When engaged by the Dvora FAC, two suicide craft charged towards the Navy craft, which fired destroying the two boats.

The other boat sailed towards the coast amid the fighting. Later the Navy in a search operation found the damaged Tiger boat beached at Sambaltivu, North of Trincomalee along with a Tiger cadre who had committed suicide swallowing a cyanide capsule and a coffin of a Tiger intelligence leader in Vakarai, identified as Arivu Charles.

Arivu is believed to be killed in an ambush on his vehicle in Kathiraveli this week. Sea tigers were taking his coffin to the North for the LTTE leadership to pay him last respect, when the naval patrol intercepted the sea Tiger convoy. His body was yesterday expected to be handed over to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.

Arivu Charles alias Arivu is a Lt Colonel in the LTTE ranks and was a master mind behind Tiger operations in Sampur when it was under LTTE control and later in Vakarai.

According to the estimates by the military, about 800 LTTE cadres are held up in Vakarai. Last week, intelligence reports warned of a LTTE military build up in the area and that the Tigers were planning a major offensive in the East, on the Mankerni and Kajuwatta military detachments.

Meanwhile on Thursday 18 LTTE cadres were killed in the East during the confrontations with the security forces patrol.

Ambush

Army killed eight LTTE cadres when the Tigers tried to ambush a foot patrol in Kajuwatta. The Tigers fled after the failed ambush. The troops pursued and attacked the bunker, where the LTTE took refugee and killed eight cadres. In another incident in the same area, two LTTE cadres were killed.

In Kaddimuruppu, troops ambushed a team of 12 LTTE cadres. Intercepted LTTE communications said eight cadres were killed in the confrontation.

As far as other conflict situations in the Middle-East and Africa are concerned, civilian casualties in the Sri Lankan conflict is reasonably low.

Though almost every excess of the security forces were highlighted in the press during the last twenty years of the conflict, sometimes with the intention of demoralising the forces, what is notable is the Sri Lankan security forces had kept the civilians away from its targets. Compare the Israeli military action in Lebanon, involving one of the most sophisticated air force flying F 16 and unmanned drains with the Sri Lankan Air force conduct.

Of course, still targets could be missed and civilians could be caught. When that is not the case, enemy could lure the forces to target the civilians, expecting a propaganda coup.

That is what happened on Wednesday when army's Multi Barrel Rockets fell in a camp of Internally displaced people sheltered in the Vigneshwaran Vidyalam, Kathiraveli.

Read the excerpts below of the Reuters report filed by Simon Gardner who quotes a victim of the rocket attack.

"...On Friday, survivors who have fled to a shelter in government territory in the east told Reuters the Tigers had fired first from near their camp in the rebel area. Soon after, Government shells and rockets rained on them."

'First, i heard a big guns fired from the camp area,' said one 27-year-old Tamil woman,asking not to be named. 'I jumped into a bunker, then the army returned fire and I heard big explosions in the camp."

According to senior military officials, the LTTE had brought a mortar gun near to the refugee camp and had fired at Mahindapura, which boarders to the LTTE held area of Vakarai.

Mortar Locating systems had identified the location and army had returned fire using a MBRL system.

See the interview with General Fonseka who dwells on a wide ranging issues.

The LTTE had been using civilians as a human shield. The government and the President Mahinda Rajapaksa voiced regret at the deaths of civilians, at the same time charging the LTTE of using civilians as human shields. The Scandinavian truce monitors who visited the site of the rocket bombardment said there was no military installations around the refugee camp. However, the LTTE is known to use its heavy weapons with an increased mobility.

The practice of LTTE is that it shifts its long range artillery and mortars rapidly to avoid the detection by the fire finding systems. That is also the secret how it could secure its limited number of artillery guns from areal bombardments.

Last week, bombing raid by the Kfir intercepter fighter jets at the proximity of the Kilinochchi drew many a concern including the those of the Co-chairs to the Tokyo Donor Conference.

However, according to the highly classified areal pictures, which the Sunday Observer publishes today, the target was 3 km from the Kilinochchi Hospital.

The picture A is of the ariel view of the site prior to the airforce raid. The target is identified by a cross and it is located an estimated 3000 meters from the hospital complex, which is shown in the blue coloured building complex situated North-West of the target.

Intelligence sources

According to the intelligence sources, the target was a meeting point of the LTTE military leadership. Picture B is the target after the air raid.

According to the ariel pictures, the target was located 3000 meters from the hospital site and not just 600 meters as claimed by the LTTE.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Lars Solveberg visited Kilinochchi Wednesday. The objective of his visit was to discuss the possibility of opening an alternative road link to the Jaffna peninsula. He came with a government proposal to use Poonaryn-Sangupitti road as an alternative to the A9 highway.

The Head of the Mission met LTTE Peace Secretariat Chief. S Pulithevan in the morning and discussed about the government's proposal.The proposal was to use A 32 Mannar road up to Poonaryn and then to cross 800 meters in the lagoon to reach the Jaffna peninsula.

Pulithevan said the Mannar route was not road worthy and Poonaryn jetty was destroyed by the Army shelling during the fighting in August.

He offered to take the Head of the Mission to Poonaryn which the latter accepted. The security forces were informed of Mr Solveberg's visit to Kilinochchi, but, not his subsequent visit to Pooneryn, which is one of the most fortified area of the LTTE from where the LTTE targeted the Palali Military Airport with a 130 mm long range artillery gun, halting fixed wing air traffic for nearly a week during its bid to lay seige to the City of Jaffna.

Defence Affairs spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the SLMM had not informed the government of the visit by the SLMM chief to Pooneryn.

Half an hour before the Head of the Mission arrived in Pooneryn, the LTTE fired two shells at the security forces FDL positions in Muhamalai, according to military sources at Muhamalai.

Whether it was intended to "engage" the security forces there by to divert attention or to provoke the security forces to return fire is open to question.

Then the security forces monitored what looked like a VIP movement. With out the prior notice of the arrival of the SLMM Chief, troops fired at them, understandably mistaking them for a visit by a LTTE leader. This forced the SLMM Chief to seek refugee in an under ground bunker.

Only after Pulithevan contacted the Peace Secretariat in Colombo over his satellite phone and finally informed of the presence of the SLMM Chief that the shelling ceased.

Earlier during the Mavilaru dispute, the then SLMM chief came under artillery fire by the security forces when he went along with Pulithevan to open the sluice gates of the anicut without prior notice to the security forces.

Given the volatile ground situation, needless to say that such ad hoc visits by the truce monitors, even with good intentions could be counter productive and perhaps a recipe to disaster.

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