LTTE desperate as troops advance on Wanni strongholds

The desperate attempt by the Tiger outfit by displaying their firepower last Saturday firing artillery on to the Pamapaimadu artillery gun position of the Sri Lankan Army has brought bad consequences to the Tiger outfit.

In face of the desperate attempts of the LTTE to put a stop to the advancing troops to the Wanni strongholds of the LTTE, the Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, gave clear orders to his senior military leaders to launch this massive assault on troops now operating ahead of Security Forces Forward Defence Line (FDL) in West of Omanthai.

Though the LTTE intention was to stop the advancing troops to the Wanni strongholds, the Tiger outfit had ulterior motives behind their failed attack on the troops in West of Omanthai and in East of Madhu area.

The objective of the operation launched by the LTTE was patently clear, with the orders given to the LTTE leaders now entrapped in small patches in Thoppigala jungles.

Destabilise situation in the East

Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has given instructions to 'Jeyam' who is leading the handful number of Batticaloa cadres in Thoppigala jungles to hold onto the area without fleeing the area in the face of Security Forces operations to capture Thoppigala jungles.

Apart from this the Tiger leader has also given instructions to Tiger cadres now operating mingling with the civilian population in the Batticaloa district to engage in operations to destabilise the peaceful situation in the East, so that the Tiger outfit can give a message to the international community that their presence is still there in the East.

Otherwise, the Tiger leader is aware that the international community will not accept the LTTE presence in the Eastern province. One of the major factors, contributed for the Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to take this decision was due to Japanese Special Peace Envoy Yasushi Akashi's visit to Vakarai on Thursday, Yasushi Akashi decided to visit Vakarai cancelling his visit to Kilinochchi, to observe the progress achieved by the Government in the East, in resettlement of displaced civilians.

In the face of these developments the Tiger outfit increased the violent activities in the Batticaloa district to disrupt the ongoing process to resettle the displaced civilians in the Batticaloa district.

The bomb exploded targeting the Colombo Batticaloa train at Vakaneri junction, the claymore mine explosion targeting the STF personnel were among many incidents that took place in the Batticaloa district.

However, Yasushi Akashi made his visit to Vakarai on Thursday as scheduled despite the violent activities taking place in the Batticaloa district.

On his return, Akashi expressed his satisfaction over the progress achieved by the Government in resettling displaced civilians in their villages without taking a longer period.

However, the Security Forces took note of this situation and the ulterior motive of the LTTE and reacted promptly, expediting the search and clear operations in the East as a threat would probably come through the Tiger cadres mingling with the civilian population.

Operation Niyathai Jaya

The relaunch of the operation Niyathai Jaya by STF Commandoes was one step taken to flush out the Tiger cadres still operating in the Ampara district as Defence Authorities got information about the presence of Tiger cadres in the Kanchikudichu Aru jungles despite the operation launched by the STF few months back.

The presence of Tiger cadres in these jungles had taken advantage of the internal conflict within the Karuna faction to create mayhem in the East, by engaging in factional killings.

The STF was on alert about few unidentified armed groups operating in the Ampara district and launched this operation to flush out such threats from jungle patches to fully ensure the security of the area.

The main factor behind the re-launch of Niyathai Jaya operation by the STF was their objective to destroy more Tiger cadres during their operation, although they were able to capture more Tiger bases within the Kanchikudichci Aru jungles.

Therefore, the re-launch of the Niyathai Jaya operation will ensure that the jungles in the Ampara district will be free of Tiger threat as Army troops are flushing-out Tiger threat from the Thoppigala jungles.

In this backdrop, the troops operating in Thoppigala jungles also expedited their operation to flush out Tiger cadres to fully ensure the security of the civilians now being resettled in Kokkadicholai area and later in Vavunathivu in the West of Batticaloa.

During the 48 hours that ended yesterday at noon, troops were able to capture South of Narakamulla and North of Pankudaveli area in the Thoppigala area taking four Tiger bases under their control. The Tiger bases at Ibbanwila, Weppachchiveli, Akkarativu and Mavaddiodi were taken under the Security Forces control along with a large haul of weapons left behind by the fleeing Tiger cadres.

According to Security Forces three Tiger cadres committed suicide as these Tiger bases fell into the hands of the Security Forces while 30 Tiger cadres were killed in the confrontations.

Security Forces handed over eight bodies of the Tiger cadres to the LTTE through the ICRC officials in Batticaloa.

Troops carried out search and clear operations in Mavaddiodi area while consolidating their positions in other areas. One soldier was killed in action while 17 others suffered injuries during this operation.

The troops are poised to capture the entire Tiger bases located in the Thoppigala jungles posing a major challenge to the Tiger leader who has given instruction to their cadres to hold onto the area.

Therefore, the battle in Thoppigala jungles has become a do or die battle for nearly 300 cadres entrapped in the jungle under the leadership of Jeyam who also led the Tiger cadres in Vakarai until troops captured Vakarai in January this year.

More Tiger cadres will have to commit suicide in the coming days when troops advance towards their territory to fully take control over Thoppigala to facilitate the opening of the Chenkaladi Maha Oya road.

The Security Forces will be able to achieve this task, despite the attempts made by the LTTE to divert the attention of the Security Forces more on to the Wanni by launching sudden attack on troops operating ahead of the FDL in West of Omanthai.

The troops will move further into the Tiger territory in the Wanni to neutralise their gun positions consolidating their defences further in the area where fighting erupted during the past few days commencing from June 2, night.

The Security Forces, through the incident that unfolded on last Saturday night, have got clear evidence to prove that Tiger cadres have infiltrated into the Government controlled areas through the Omanthai entry exit point mingling with the civilians arriving in the area to attend to their daily needs to accomplish their targets and on espionage missions.

According to Security Forces, these cadres equipped with the latest Ground Positioning Equipment, military communication sets, compasses, binoculars, night vision devices and satellite images to direct artillery fire on to the gun positions have infiltrated into the area with the objective of direct observation of the gun positions of the Security Forces.

The Tiger outfit engaged in such operations in Jaffna too when prior to their attack on the Security Forces defences in Muhamalai, August last year.

They made use of these equipment to direct the artillery fire directly on gun position and mini ammo dumps located close to the gun position. The Tiger cadres directed their 130 mm gun located at Palampiddy located 30 Kilo metres away from Pamapaimadu gun position with the help of the Tiger cadres infiltrated to the area mingling with the civilian population.

They redirected the artillery fire when their artillery rounds some kilometres away from gun position communicating with the Tiger cadres through their military communication sets. The direct hits of the artillery rounds in the mini ammo dump located close to the gun position caused the destruction of 763, 130 mm artillery rounds stored close to the gun position.

However, the 130 mm artillery gun remained unharmed despite the Tiger artillery fire on the gun position.

Aim of the LTTE

The aim of the LTTE was to neutralise the artillery guns to make a major assault on the troops operating ahead of the FDL in West of Omanthai. However, troops with the support of the Sri Lanka Air Force neutralised the gun position located in Palampiddi.

Simultaneously with the artillery fire on the Pamapaimadu gun position, Tiger cadres launch an attack on the troops operation on the Vilanthikulam - Vavuniya road and Palampiddi - Vavuniya Road compelling them to readjust their defences. The troops operating as small teams ahead of the FDL lost communication with their main bases and withdrew from their defences as they alone cannot face the Tiger assault as nearly 400, Tiger cadres have participated in this operation.

An army Personnel carrier which went ahead of the FDL to bring in casualties also got caught in the LTTE fire and were later captured by the LTTE.

However, Security Forces recaptured the positions taken by the LTTE by Sunday morning flushing out Tiger cadres from the area and strengthened their positions. Later on Monday and Tuesday too Tiger cadres confronted the Security Forces operating ahead of the FDL.

During these confrontations, the Security Forces, through their technical sources confirmed that, 62 Tiger cadres have been killed and 89 have sustained injuries.

The Security Forces too suffered heavily losing 17 soldiers, out of which 15 bodies have already been recovered. They accepted two bodies identified as soldiers after the LTTE handed over 15 bodies to the Security Forces through the ICRC.

Eighty one soldiers have also been injured during these battles and 35 have already returned to battle after undergoing treatment at hospitals.

However, Security Forces have lost contact with three small groups during these battles. Two officers are among them. Till yesterday evening they have not communicated with the Security Forces.

According to intercepted communications of the LTTE after the battles in the west of Omanthai 11 Tiger leaders were among the 86 Tiger cadres killed in the confrontation in the battles on June 2, 3 and June 5.

In addition to this 89 cadres have also been injured during these battles.

The LTTE have announced the names of Arivannan and Kutti in the self-styled rank of 'Captain', eight leaders Anandan, Kandaikumar, Kanaruban, Ariyan, Murali, Kandakumaran, Kanawanan and Kalai Cheliyan in the ranks of 'Lieutenant' and 'Second Lieutenant' Purachchi among the leaders killed during these confrontations.

According to information more than 500 cadres have participated in these battles as one leader was commanding nearly 40 Tiger cadres. The Tiger leadership is making these desperate attempts as they are well aware that troops won't take too long a period to enter into their territory and capture their strongholds and want somehow to put an end to the winning trend of the Security Forces.

However, the task before the Security Forces in Wanni will be stiff one as Tiger outfit would make use of their maximum strength to defend their territory using maximum fire power as their guns remain intact in the Wanni despite their running short of man power.

In this context the Navy will have to play a key role to keep the Tiger fire power at its minimum level, without allowing the Tiger cadres to smuggle arms and ammunition to the uncleared areas, as there is clear evidence to prove that LTTE is still smuggling arms and ammunition using small boats.

The steps taken by the Indian Navy to increase their patrolling in the Palk Strait and Bay of Bengal will help the Sri Lanka Navy to further control the LTTE arms smuggling, mingling with the fishing boats. Apart from this the LTTE will also come out with their usual tactics in Colombo to create a major calamity in Colombo targeting VVIPs and Security Forces.

Therefore, Colombo security will be most vulnerable in the coming days as intelligence sources have received information about many explosive laden vehicles reaching south similar to that of the lorry detected at Kotawehera Police check point last week.

However, despite this serious security situation Defence Authorities will have to be sensible enough to foil these Tiger attempts without harassing the Tamil civilians in Colombo as it would lead to a bigger problem in the South.

The Defence authorities should tackle the issue of Colombo security without creating fear psychosis among the minority communities in the country specially those living in Colombo as it would make all the attempts by the Government to fight against terrorism of the LTTE, futile. If further attempts are made to evict ethnic Tamils from Colombo, that would definitely lead to an ethnic backlash in the South which was long expected by the LTTE through their brutal bomb attacks targeting ethnic Sinhalese in the South and also to threaten villages in the North and the East.

Therefore, it is commendable that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is committed for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic issue, took note of the situation and asked Inspector General of Police to submit the comprehensive report, stating how Police acted to evict Tamil civilians living in Colombo lodges.

If justice is done to the innocent Tamil civilians they, will definitely help to strengthen the security in Colombo against the will of the LTTE to create mayhem in Colombo.