Forces fight relentlessly to ensure better life for civilians in the East

The failures of the LTTE are now exceeding the number of victories they have recorded in the past. All their efforts to achieve their goals at any cost have gone down the drain on many occasions in the recent past. Yet they are trying their best to take the upper hand on the situation.

According to analysts, Prabhakaran is not a person who gives up things easily.

He takes years to accomplish the plans generated in his mind and make contingency plans if his operatives failed in their endeavours.

When he gives the nod for peace talks he starts planning for his next battle to achieve his next step in his long driven plan to have a separate state in the North East.

He has never deviated or given up his plans for a separate state though he had changed his stance for the time being for strategic reasons.

Tiger leader Prabhakaran, prepared his plans for a battle that is going on in the North East, after he entered in to a Ceasefire with the then UNF regime signing an MoU with then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in February 2002.

He so strategically laid his plans to capture not only the North East but also to destabilize the South if he faces any disadvantageous situation in the battle fronts in the North and the East.

The first step in his plan was to assassinate all the intelligence operatives and informants of the Security Forces and the Police. The Millennium City case provided them a better opportunity to commence their operations as all classified information regarding the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols of the Security Forces was divulged by the short sighted defence authorities who were trying to take political mileage through the incident.

Intelligence network

The Tiger cadres penetrated into each and every economic and security establishments in the South with long term objectives to play their role once required by the Tiger leadership. In the same manner many suicide cadres too were well established in Colombo and suburbs silently mingling with the civilian population changing their identity. The Tiger leader Prabhakaran and his intelligence Wing Chief Pottu Amman never thought that they would fail in all their endeavours to destabilize the South as they miserably failed in the battle fronts in the North and East.

Restructured

Interior of the freezer truck - The C-4 explosives are meticulously hidden inside the truck, which was scized by the Navy following tip - off from the civilians

The intelligence network of the Security Forces that was in total disarray after the Tiger outfit commenced hunting each and every intelligence operative taking the cover of the Ceasefire Agreement has now been restructured to face the challenges posed by the Tiger outfit and they are making many revelations to counter their plans in Colombo.

The alerted Security Forces and the Police sniff each and every effort to create mayhem in Colombo and the South while Security Forces in the North East are effectively defeating the Tiger outfit in the North East battle fronts.

The alerted Security Forces made yet another breakthrough on the Tiger plans to create mayhem in Colombo by detecting yet another explosive laden truck transporting fish in Trincomalee on Friday evening.

The Navy intelligence unit detected this 'Freezer truck' commonly used to transport fish on a tip off given by a civilian in Panikkiya fisher village one kilo metre away from the Trincomalee town once it was parked in front of a house damaged by Tsunami waves.

According to defence authorities the man believed to be the owner of the lorry had brought the lorry to be cleared areas from Wanni through Omanthai Entry Exit point and had arrived in Colombo on several occasions transporting fish to Colombo from Trincomalee.

The Freezer Truck was preparing to arrive in Colombo with the intention of creating mayhem in Colombo as the lorry was detained by the Naval troops around 4.30 p.m.

The lorry was laden with C-4 high explosives weighing over 1,012 Kg in 56 iron boxes.

The Huge quantity of High Explosives when found by Naval troops was concealed in a separate compartment made behind the driver. Each iron box had 20 Kg of C4 explosives commonly used by the LTTE and were connected to each one through detonate code enabling to explode it. The packing of the explosives found in this truck was completely different from the explosive laden lorry detected at Kotavehera early this month (01st, June) and a compartment has been created in the front of the truck to create the impact towards the lorry driver.

It is difficult to detect the explosives laden compartment outside once the truck is loaded with fish. The truck has been detained at the Navy Camp, Trincomalee for further investigations.

The Navy troops with the assistance of the Bomb Disposal Units were unloading the explosives laden inside the vehicle by yesterday afternoon to ascertain the exact damage that can be done using the quantity of explosives found in the truck.

The STF bomb disposal unit and the Government Analysts Department made such analysis when Security Forces detected 1025 Kg of C4 explosive hidden inside the lorry detected at Kotavehera in Nikaweratiya in the North Western province on June 1.

Open space collateral damage

According to the findings of the STF bomb disposal experts on the lorry detected at Kotavehera each charge contained between 9 Kg to 10 Kg high explosives and the inclusion of ball bearings indicated that the LTTE was looking for an 'Open space collateral damage' as explained by the experts. The findings of the Bomb Disposal experts painted a clear picture of the consequences of an explosion using a quantity of around 1,000 Kg in an explosive-laden lorry. They estimated that the area of destruction would have been vast - a minimum 500 metre radius.

The use of vehicle bombs to attack densely populated city centres has been a feature of terrorists throughout the globe and the LTTE is no exception.

In this instance, according to the explosive experts, the LTTE was looking to create catastrophic damage to the targeted area. The outcome of the explosion would result in direct blast effect, structural collapses, debris impact, fire and smoke and other indirect effects preventing timely evacuation.

An explosion of this magnitude will also cause the complete shutdown of life saving systems, major damage from Gas/ Chemical explosions, widespread damage to the surroundings, air and liquid hazards, post blast traumatic conditions and loss of life to a great extent.

A clear picture of the magnitude of destruction that can be caused using 1,000 kg of C4 explosives can be perceived when one considers the quantity of explosives used by the LTTE for bomb explosions in Colombo and suburbs.

Even in the Central Bank explosion the LTTE used only 250 Kg of explosives.

Therefore, any ordinary person can imagine the disaster that can be created in Colombo if LTTE was able to bring both explosive laden lorry and the truck to Colombo.

Under these circumstances as very rightly pointed out by Government Defence Affairs Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella the Defence Authorities cannot keep their eyes and years shut regarding the information they were receiving. They have to be on alert on each and every intelligence report whether they were correct or false.

With the detention of the explosive laden lorry in Trincomalee, a validity was added to the revelation by the Defence Authorities about a major LTTE plan to create mayhem in Colombo cannot be denied by anybody as the Tiger outfit had not abandoned their plans for such an attack in Colombo.

According to the Defence Authorities this is the fifth failed attempt by the LTTE in the month of June to use explosives by various means to cause a severe explosion in Colombo.

On June 8 on information received from a civilian, the Police Special Task Force recovered a claymore mine at the busy hour around 9.00 a.m., placed in the vicinity of the Police Barracks and close to the Baron Jayatilleke School in Maligawatte.

On June 13, claymore mine weighing 10 Kilo grams was recovered once again on a tip-off from a civilian near the railway line in Wellawatte.

On June 26, on a tip off given by a civilian to the Police hotline 119 a very powerful 20 Kg Claymore mine was recovered from the backyard of a residence at Sri Skanda Devale Road, Obeysekerapura in Rajagiriya around 12.30 pm.

The recovery of the claymore mine rang alarm bells in the South as this bomb has been transported to Colombo from Kilinochchi using the vehicle belonging to the Additional Local Government Commissioner in Kilinochchi.

Investigations also revealed that the main suspect in the case had lived in a Colombo lodge for quite a long period and they had received instructions from the LTTE operatives in London via telephone how they should transport the claymore mine to Obeysekera Pura, Rajagiriya.

The incidents unfolding in Colombo and in other parts of the North and East very clearly indicate that the Tiger outfit is now in a more desperate situation as they are definite of their defeat in the East with Troops entering the final phase of the Thoppigala battle.

The two Commando troops and the 6,7 and 8 battalions of the Gemunu watch has now arrived in Narakamulla and Tharavikulam areas where Tiger leaders spent a luxurious life at the expense of the Tamil Diaspora funding the brutal acts of the LTTE.

The troops engaged in the operation have found a large number of vehicles destroyed by the fleeing cadres in Veppavattuvan area in Narakamulla.

As mentioned in the previous Sitrep troops are advancing slowly braving the mine fields and booby traps set by the fleeing Tiger cadres. Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka during his visit to Maha Oya Commando Brigade on Wednesday instructed the field commander to achieve the target maintaining minimum numbers of casualties as troops are poised to greater danger in face of Tiger booby traps and such incidents can spoil the achievements they recorded in the East.

After the troops engaged in the operation many of the Tiger cadres have fled the area and surrendered to the Security Forces after sneaking through the jungle terrains very familiar to them. A number of cadres have also surrendered to the TMVP offices in Batticaloa to reunite with the Karuna faction.

Support from civilians

A few pockets of Tiger cadres are remaining in the Tharavikulam and Narakamulla where the Tiger outfit had their main bases under the cover of the thick jungle patches in the Thoppigala jungle.

According to Security Forces there is small resistance from the remaining Tiger cadres in the Narakamulla and Tharavikulam areas as they are not in a position to resist the advancing troops.

Amidst this situation the Security Forces have cordoned off the area to capture the fleeing Tiger cadres. Troops detected such movement by the troops in the south of Mavil Aru on Wednesday killing ten Tiger cadres fleeing towards Wanni. However, it is a difficult task for the Security Forces to detect each and every cadre fleeing from the area taking the cover of thick jungle as they need a large number of troops to deploy for such a task.

But the troops are now definite that they have been able to reduce the number of Tiger cadres to nearly 100 in the East with the completion of their mission in the West and South of Batticaloa.

According to initial estimates the Tiger outfit had nearly 1600 strength in the East after they were defeated in Vakarai and Kathirveli in January this year.

The Security Forces fought this decisive battles with a terror outfit armed with heavy artillery and modern weapons which had never been available to them to fight against the Security Forces in earlier battles. One of the most highlighting points in the battles fought by the Security forces in the East was their ability to win the hearts and minds of the Eastern population amidst intense efforts by the Tiger outfit to antagonise the Security Forces with the civilian population.

The Security Forces now see the dividends of their efforts as they receive immense support from the civilian population to detect each and every movement of the LTTE to destabilize the normal life style of the Eastern province.

Therefore, no one cannot underestimate the achievements of the security Forces as they not only won the ground in the East flushing out the terror outfit from the whole Eastern province but also won the hearts and minds of the Eastern population along with the battles they won in the east since July last year. Moreover they have won an area the LTTE had never thought to give up at any cost.

Therefore the Security Forces will be able to enjoy the real joy of their victory with more than 250,000 population peacefully resettled in their villages to live a better life in the East.