Air Force proves its mettle

It was around Friday 8.40 p.m., when troops attached to the 12 Gajaba Regiment operating under the 58 Division heard a sound of air craft taking off from the Tiger controlled areas in Puthukuduyiruppu. Minutes after the first air craft taking off they have heard the second air craft taking off towards the sea side.

The message was quickly passed on to the 58 Division and General Officer Commanding 58 Division Brigadier Shavendra Silva passed this message to Director Operations of the Army headquarters and the Air Force Headquarters. Then onwards the ground troops have observed the two aircraft as they were heading in a Westerly direction from the North of Puthukuduyiruppu.

Heading

Minutes after the message was passed on to the Air Force Headquarters measures were taken to face the pending challenge as the radars detected that the two aircraft were heading towards the South along the Western coast.

This time there was no big reaction from the ground as the two aircraft were airborne at an quite unexpected time. Many believed that the LTTE has lost all their airstrips with the Security Force very recently capturing Puthukuduyiruppu North airstrip, believed to be the last airstrip the LTTE had under its control.

By 9 p.m. the F-7 interceptors and Kfirs were airborne from Karunayake and air defence system was activated to attack the two light aircraft heading towards Colombo. The two aircraft had taken the same route they had taken their earlier missions and the Air Force, through their radar system was observing the two aircraft heading towards Colombo.

Lights were switched off in Colombo and the Airport authorities had taken measures to divert the aircraft which were scheduled to land at the Katunayake airport to other international airports as a precautionary Measure.

Two LTTE aircraft were detected in the air space of Colombo around 9.45 p.m. and all anti aircraft guns were directed at the two aircraft. It was believed that the two aircraft had come to the edge of the Colombo harbour taking the path along Hamilton canal and turned towards sea to avoid the anti aircraft guns installed at the Colombo harbour. It was around 10.20 a huge aerial explosion was heard in Colombo as anti aircraft guns directed fire towards the LTTE aircraft. At the initial stage Security Forces believed that the LTTE aircraft had dropped one bomb into the Inland Revenue Department building at Chittampalam A. Gardiner Mawatha Colombo which is located few hundred metres away from the Air Force Headquarters building. The Inland Revenue Department building was gutted in a fire soon after the explosion.

Evade

The second aircraft that was trying to evade the air defence system and was flying over the sky close to Katunayake Air Force Base was shot down by the Air Force and Air Force officials confirmed that the Tiger aircraft crashed into a paddy field close to the Air Force Base, Katunayake.

The parts of the destroyed LTTE aircraft and the dead body of the pilot was recovered from the area minutes after the aircraft was shot down by the Air Force closer to its base and next to the Katunayake railway station.

The confirmation about the destruction of the second aircraft also came as Security Forces found pieces of the destroyed aircraft inside the Inland Revenue Department building few minutes after Air Force officials confirmed that the aircraft which was heading towards the Katunanayake was shot down.

With the confirmation of the fact that both Tiger aircraft which were on a suicide mission were destroyed due to the anti aircraft fire, the Defence authorities had a sigh of relief. Defence Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Air Force Commander Air Marshal Roshan Gunatilleka visited the scene of the explosion, the Inland Revenue Department building premises to observe the situation first-hand.

According to Air Force Commander Air Marshal Roshan Gunatilleka this aircraft had been destroyed after it was hit by an anti aircraft gun. It crashed into the Inland Revenue Department building in a fireball.

Investigating teams have so far collected one arm belonging to the Tiger pilot who had been blown to pieces along with the crash or counter fire and the explosion that followed. Eye witnesses some of who were in the canteen on an upper floor, confirmed that the crashing of the aircraft above their heads produced a thundering bang that terrified them.

It is firmly believed that the this aircraft was heading towards the Air Force Headquarters building to launch an attack similar to the 9/11 attack but was effectively foiled by the Air Force as it was hit by the anti aircraft guns. The second aircraft which was destroyed outside the Air Force Base in Katunayake had targeted the Jet squadron at the Katunayake Air Force base and it was also shot down by an anti aircraft gun when it was heading towards the Air Force base targeting the jet squadron.

Light aircraft

The SLAF confirmed the fact that the LTTE had made use of ZLIN 143s light aircraft made in the Czech Republic for this suicide mission.

The findings from the destroyed aircraft and the body of the pilot confirm the fact that the aircraft was on suicide mission as a number of hand grenades were found stripped to pilots dead body which was ultimately foiled by the Security Forces without allowing them to achieve their mission.

At the final count two people were killed and 50 others sustained injuries at the Inland Revenue Department building incident. It is obvious that the LTTE had sent these two light aircraft on these suicide missions as they are aware that they could no longer resist the troops who are fast advancing into their territory. With this mission the LTTE has lost all their air capabilities as the SLAF was able earlier to destroy both an aircraft which came to attack the Security Forces Headquarters in Vavuniya later last year.

Although the LTTE had made use of their air capability against the Security Forces at seven occasions they have failed to achieve their objectives as none of their air targets were accurate.

But there was a big psychological effect on them with the use of these aircraft as those aircraft were able to return to the base though their missions failed, except for one occasion where one of the F-7 interceptors managed to destroy one over the air space in Puthukuduyiruppu. The factor that has to be studied is the way LTTE managed to keep a facility to take off these aircraft even after they have been confined to a smaller areas less than 80 square kilo metres in Puthukuduyiruppu. But ground sources confirmed that the LTTE prevented civilians arriving in the south Puthumattalan area which has been demarcated as the new safe zone for the civilians.

This confirms the fact that the LTTE was making use of the limited space available to them for their terror objectives disregarding the plight of the civilians now entrapped in this small space without basic facilities.

Not willing

According to ICRC and the UN officials the LTTE is not willing to heed Their pleas. They are refusing to allow civilians to flee from the area and continue to use all their military assets mingling with the civilian population putting their lives also into great danger.

The international community can now understand the real nature of the LTTE as they were little reluctant to accept the facts forwarded by the Government of Sri Lanka about the nature of the LTTE and how they are keeping those innocent Tamil civilians as a human shield.

It was on this backdrop the Security Forces have decided to expedite the process of liberating the remaining areas under LTTE control as it has been observed that that the civilians entrapped there are undergoing immense hardships at the hands of the LTTE. The Tiger leadership has no regard for these civilians as intelligence reports have confirmed the fact that the LTTE leader has sent his wife Mathivadanee and his younger son out of country by sea.

His elder son Charles and Prabhakaran are still there in Puthukuduyiruppu to launch more terror attacks against the Security Forces and also his own Tamil community going against their wish.

Amidst this situation fierce battles in the Puthukuduyiruppu North, West and South as troops were closing on to Puthukuduyiruppu East by yesterday.

The 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva is making North to South and West to East moves towards the Puthukuduyiruppu East to see an end to the battle with the LTTE.During the past five days the 58 Division has recovered more than 50 Tiger bodies left behind in the newly captured areas. The LTTE no longer give priority to collecting the bodies of their dead cadres as they cannot afford to handle them all with the soaring number of casualties.

The most fierce battles erupted in this range as LTTE continue to make use of their fire power against the Security Forces as they advance fast into the Tiger territory without allowing them even to shift their massive storage of military hardware and other supplies. As of yesterday many of the battle formations which were engaged in offensive operations grounded their offensive operations as the area they have to operate is shrinking very fast.

Force IV under the command of Colonel Nishantha Wanniarachchi was the latest battle formation which grounded their offensive operation and turned into defensive role South of Puthukuduyiruppu.