LTTE fall inevitable

Dhaneshi Yatawara reporting from Muhamalai

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At last terrorists were compelled to withdraw. Apparently they are withdrawing from all fronts with the advance of our valiant troops destroying LTTE defence lines.

Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri - Commander, Jaffna Security Forces	Brig. Prasanna de Silva - GOC 55 Division	Brig. Kamal Gunaratne - GOC 53 Division

The Northern Security forces pushed the LTTE further down while the Wanni troops pushed them further north sandwiching between extremely difficult conditions. Last Thursday the LTTE lost their entire Muhamalai Forward Defence Line after being attacked by the Sri Lanka Army.

“We are far superior. Their (LTTE) fall is inevitable,” said Major General G.A. Chandrasiri, Commander of the Jaffna Security Forces. The Jaffna Commander was busy with his troops heavily engaged in the Muhamalai Forward Defence Line.

Every soldier in the FDL awaits his order, support and guidance! From the Commander to the newly recruited Private in the battlefield, all were totally committed in their heart and soul to secure victory.

Honouring heroes

It is ironic that the Muhamalai victory fell within the ‘Ranaviru Upahara’ week (honouring war heroes) as announced by the Government. Especially to countries like ours, each day is a war heroes’ day!

After a four day tough confrontation, troops of the 53 division commanded by Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne and of the 55 division commanded by Brigadier Prasanna de Silva are presently in an advanced position of 500 to 800 meters forward in Muhamalai and Kilali.

Sanguppiddy jetty in Pooneryn from Kerathivu point in Thanankilappu of Jaffna

Previous LTTE defence line now under the Army control

An artillery encampment along Muhamalai defence line

They are in full control of the Tigers’ first defence line of the Northern front extending approximately 8 kilometres from Kadolana area North of the A9 road to Kilali at South of A9 road. Troops consolidated their positions by early hours of past Thursday.

Operation to capture the Muhamalai LTTE defence line was launched last Saturday by the troops of the two divisions under heavy resistance from the LTTE at the initial stages.

Pooneryn

Though the Tigers earlier resorted to attack the Army with artillery and mortar from Palai and Soranpatthu areas south of Muhamalai and from coma point in Pooneryn their strength degraded a great deal with the total capture of Pooneryn by the Task Force I of the Wanni front.

Presently, Tigers have been pushed southward to their second defence line located about 600 metres away from the first and further down towards the third defence line! which is at approximately one and a half to two kilometres from the second defence line.

According to ground troops a large numbers of dead bodies of Tiger cadres were seen lying beyond the FDLs and according to the official military reports more than 50 LTTE cadres were killed in their unsuccessful attempt to hold the defence line. Intercepted LTTE radio transmissions reported a heavy toll of casualties among the terrorists during these clashes.

During the ‘Ranaviru Upahara’ Week, we are duty-bound to remember and honour our soldiers who laid down their lives during this battle and those who were injured due to LTTE’s mortar and artillery attacks and heavy mine fields.

“Though the LTTE was trying to give us a hard battle, according to the radio intercepts Tiger cadres were running short of food, water, medicine etc. We heard they were fighting even without a single meal a day,” Maj. Gen. Chandrasiri told us.

At the forefront

According to the ground information we gathered during our visit about 1500 - 2000 LTTE cadres were positioned at this front to face the Army onslaught and the LTTE leadership was unable to withdraw any of them to meet the requirements of the Wanni front line.

The LTTE had to withdraw to the defence line they lost during the recent battle after their attack on SLA in 2006 August 11. It was the decisive factor for the overall security of the entire peninsula.

Eight months after his posting as the Security Forces Commander in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Chandrasiri faced the crucial turning point on this 11 August 2006.

Though the LTTE were able to hold the defence line, exactly within a month Sri Lanka Army managed to recapture the territory and within four months they restored normalcy in the area. It was surely a well-deserved victory. In this battle LTTE lost 498 cadres and 1135 were injured.

LTTE launched the Muhamalai attack at a time when the Sri Lanka Army was heavily engaged in the humanitarian operation to liberate the East, particularly in the absence of the present dynamic Wanni Defence Lines of the Sri Lanka Army. Hence the intensity of the attack was severe.

“The August 2006, attack so demoralized the LTTE that it had to give up its efforts of regrouping and redirecting against the government forces.

The LTTE not to come forward and attack this front and they became more defensive,” Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne, who was leading the front since August 2006 attack said explaining the enemy position with his experience over the years.

Brigadier Gunaratne was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 55 division for one year and eight months before he became the GOC of 53 Division on April 28 this year.

“The strength and the morale of our battle hardened soldiers to go forward while their colleagues on the either side die or get wounded is remarkable. Victory is not impossible with such soldiers,” Brigadier Gunaratne added.

While the 55 division secures area south of A9 the 53 division secures the northern section of the A9 road including the Nagar Kovil area.

“Now we very well know the exact nature of the LTTE. As a legitimate Army we have advanced well ahead of the Tigers,” Brigadier Prasanna de Silva told us when we met him at the division headquarters.

“They seem to be putting lot of effort to repulse our attacks but we see that their capabilities have gone down in terms of their level of training and the number of well-trained cadres,” Brigadier de Silva, with his vast experience gained during the Eastern liberation, told us.

“With our strategies we were able to cripple the LTTE’s ground leadership. We have totally scuttled their middle run leadership”, he added.Troops in their offensive have also taken care to protect almost all important public places.

Troops were seen on guard near transformers, temples, government as well as semi Government property.

According to information received from the ground troops, the LTTE leader ‘Theepan’ had been acting as the overall leader during the debacle while an area leader ‘Jerry’ was also in the scene. Several of the LTTE’s senior leaders, such as Kalailalagan in the Kilali front and ‘double alpha’, were killed by the recent army attacks.

Marching forward

Amidst heavy resistance the troops were able to hold the Tiger defence line for the past few days despite artillery and motor fire.

Troops also suffered damages but not to the extent claimed by certain sections of the media.

With these developments troops of the Northern defence line are in good posture to march forward, more Southward, may be to link up with the Wanni defence line troops advancing towards Paranthan.

However, the LTTE’s greediness to the precious, rich land will not disappear overnight!

Though the battle against terrorism seems to be on the right track now the Sri Lanka

Army will have to face the most critical and sensitive ground realities. Even under the bloodiest conditions troops are ready to flush out terrorism without leaving a single trace and that is our strength!