Crushing of most ruthless terrorist outfit:

SL Army shows its class to the world

The Sri Lankan Army has in no uncertain terms proved its capability of crushing the most ruthless terror outfit in the world under any challenging circumstances having rescued most probably the largest number of civilian hostages by a terror outfit in the world, since its most sensitive operation in its history, at the dawn of April 20, 2009.

The valiant troops of the Sri Lanka Army took up that challenge at a time the entire international community was ringing alarm bells fearing a blood bath or humanitarian catastrophe if Sri Lanka tried to rescue the civilians by nearly 150,000 civilians held hostage by the LTTE.

Those who cautioned the Sri Lankan Government about a possible blood bath in the No Fire Zone and exerted pressure to extend the humanitarian pause offered for the civilians to flee, could not provide any alternative solution to end this problem by peaceful means.

Many suggestions by those international players to end this issue were appalling as they wanted a safe passage for Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his subordinates to flee from the country at the last moment with the LTTE is facing its final defeat.

Did not give in

A soldier gives a helping hand to a child in his mother’s arms.

The Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, however, did not succumb to any of the pressures of the international community to go for a Ceasefire as the Security Forces were in their final phase of its humanitarian act to free the last batch of civilians from the LTTE and to push the Tiger leader to final defeat.

It was the key factor behind the success story of defeating the world’s most ruthless terror outfit by military means as there were many opportunities for the Sri Lankan Security Forces to eliminate LTTE terrorism at the initial stages of the conflict.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa were open in their arguments with the international community as they managed to expose the true nature of the LTTE in each and every forum they represented Sri Lanka and justify their action to crush the LTTE.

Stormy waters

It was a sailing in stormy waters as all other governments which had dealt with the North-East issue, had feared to expose ground realities. May be that they had no genuine interest to understand the ground realities themselves and salvage the country out of this messy situation or they lacked courage to argue with the international community who tried to exert pressure on the government based on the facts and figures provided by the media, NGOs and INGOs with vested interests.

Not only was the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa genuinely committed to see an end to this problem, but also had the courage and will power to face any challenging scenarios when dealing with the North East problem.

He also understood the capabilities of the Sri Lankan Security Forces to end this problem through military means.

That was why Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka got the full blessings of President Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to go ahead with this biggest humanitarian operation to rescue more than 120,000 civilians trapped inside the No Fire Zone.

It was after President Mahinda Rajapaksa saw for himself the ground realities in the No Fire Zone during his visit to Kilinochchi along with Service Commanders and the Police Chief that instructions were given to rescue the civilians as soon as possible.

By the time President Rajapaksa visited Kilinochchi the 58 Division, under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva, had completed their task of capturing the areas outside the No Fire Zone and were operating some 100 to 200 meters distance from the borders of the No Fire Zone.

So, Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka who visited Security Forces Headquarters in Vanni on April 18, discussed the operational plans at length and chose the 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva to launch this most sensitive phase of the humanitarian operation to liberate Vanni civilians.

The challenge before the 58 Division was so big that any mistake would undermine the entire effort the Sri Lanka Army in the event any civilian death during this military operation as it would bring disastrous consequences to the country as a whole as the entire international community was a keen observer of what was unfolding inside the No Fire Zone.

It was decided to take the support of the Commando and Special Forces troops for this operation as it needed the contribution of specially trained troops to handle this situation.

The coastal stretch of the No Fire Zone under Army control.

Therefore, Commando Brigade Commander Colonel Ralph Nugera assigned 2 Commando Regiment under the command of Major Shamal Silva to deploy his troops for the mission whilst Special Forces Brigade Commander Colonel Athula Kodippili assigning 1 SF troops under the command of Major Mahinda Ranasinghe to provide his troops for this operation.

After lengthy discussions

58 Division GOC Brigadier Shavendra Silva, who prepared the operations plan after lengthy discussions with his Brigade Commanders and battalion commander, decided to deploy 9 Gemunu Watch battalion under the command of Lt. Colonel Lal Chandrasiri, 11 Sri Lanka Light Infantry Battalion under the command of Lt. Colonel Kithsiri Ekanayake and the 8 Gajaba Regiment under the command of Lt. Colonel Chandana Wickremesinghe for this most sensitive operation. Those battalions were under the command of 581 Brigade Commander Lt. Colonel Deshapriya Gunawardena.

As the operation was to be launched under very sensitive circumstances the firing of artillery, mortar and heavy weapons were strictly prohibited during this operation and all troops were strictly advised not to open fire under any circumstances at the civilians.

Therefore, all the troops involved in this operation had to face great life threat as their hands were held back not to retaliate to LTTE fire ignoring the civilian factor.

By Sunday the 58 Division, which was observing the situation inside the No Fire Zone through UAV visuals, had observed that the LTTE was not mindful of what was going outside the No Fire Zone as they did not expect such a military move at this point of time. So it gave an additional benefit to the Security Forces who were waiting to launch this sensitive operation.

As troops were ready to take up the challenge the 58 Division GOC Brigadier Shavendra Silva decided to launch the operation before mid night on April 19 so that the troops could reach the earth bund which was located some 100 to 200 meters away from their forwards defences in Puthumatalan and Ampalavanpokkanai, at 2 a.m. in the morning.

They had to move by night as they had to cross an open terrain and the lagoon to reach this earth bund. The 11 Sri Lanka Light Infantry battalion went from the Southern part of the No Fire Zone in Ampalavanpokkanai along with the 1 SF troops, the 8 Gajaba Regiment troops advanced from the Northern part of the earth bund in Puthumattalan along with the 2 GR troops. The 9 Gemunu Watch battalion advanced from the centre independently.

All troops reached the earth bund at 2 a.m. but there was huge resistance from two LTTE points delaying the capture of the Tiger earth bund by another 30 minutes.

Therefore, Commando troops went around the two LTTE points and captured two points killing Tiger cadres inside.

By this time the 58 Division operations room, busy observing the situation inside the No Fire Zone through UAV visuals, had seen panic stricken civilians inside the No Fire Zone by the thousands running amock, and had given instructions for the troops to announce through their public address systems for them to reach military controlled areas as the entire earth bund stretching more than 2.5 km had been completely captured by the troops.

With that announcement, tens of thousands of civilians, who were living inside tents some 100 to 200 meters away from the earth bund, began moving into military controlled areas. The exact number of civilians living inside this area was really understood by the troops only when civilians poured into military controlled areas in thousands.

Surprise

It was a surprise to note more than 30 per cent of these civilians were small children.

The 58 Division troops through their intercepted radio transmission had observed the desperate attempts made by the LTTE leader of the Intelligence Wing leader Pottu Amman to prevent those civilians fleeing the no fire zone. They had monitored that Pottu Amman was organizing suicide cadres to explode among the fleeing civilians and keep them inside the No Fire Zone.

Three suicide cadres killed themselves among the fleeing civilians whilst firing artillery towards them killing 17 civilians and injuring large numbers. The troops rushed the injured civilians to safe locations and Air Force helicopters airlifted them to the hospitals for urgent treatment.

As the huge civilian influx continued across the lagoon, the troops, who had captured the entire earth bund by 2.30 a.m. suspended their operation to facilitate the arrival of civilians.

However, they observed the way the LTTE was moving their heavy weapons along the coastal belt of the No Fire Zone and firing towards the fleeing civilians and towards the troops dominating the earth bund.

Even the President, who was overjoyed by the success of the military operation, visited the operations room of the Air Force Headquarters and watched the way civilians were reaching the military controlled areas in large numbers.

Air Force Commander Air Marshal Roshan Gunatilleke was also there with the President to observe that situation. Foreign correspondents based in Colombo were also given a chance to observe the correct situation there in Puthumattalan through UAV visuals so that they cannot speculate things about the situation. Even Foreign diplomats were given an opportunity to observe the situation and the way the Security Forces handled this operation successfully without causing any civilian casualty.

Mechanisms were put in place to check all the civilians arriving at military controlled areas by deploying additional number of troops for this purpose.

But it was a hectic task as the number of civilians arrived in the military controlled areas exceeded 35,000 on the first date alone.

Another section of civilians opted to flee the No Fire Zone by boats towards Chalai and Chundikulam whilst another section of civilians travelled towards the 55 Division area North of Puthumattalan.

The true spirit of a humanitarian operation was displayed by the troops engaged in this mission as they offered even their meals to the civilians who were waiting in Puthumattalan and Ampalavanpokkanai to reach welfare centres in Vavuniya.

It was a difficult task for the troops even to distribute meals and water to these civilians as thousands flocked together in search of water and a meal. Troops attached to adjoining divisions immediately prepared thousands of lunch packets which were distributed among the civilians. Many of the malnourished women who were carrying two to three children in their hands, fainted in the unbearable heat.

With throbs rushing to give them first aid.

As the downpour of civilians continued, the 58 Division started the second phase of the operation to move inside to the No Fire Zone from the earth bund on Monday night. By Tuesday morning 58 Division troops managed to reach the Eastern coast of the No Fire Zone and commenced their operations towards the Northern section of the No Fire Zone.

The 7 Sinha Regiment was deployed to continue their advance to the North and they faced stiff resistance from Tiger cadres trapped there. Few vehicles transporting Tiger leaders were attacked by the troops killing those leaders and destroying the padal gun which obstructed the troops advancement. The last Sea Tiger base in Puthumattalan was also captured by the 7 SR troops during this operation.

It was around 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning that the 58 Division captured the entire Northern part of the No Fire Zone after marrying up with the 55 Division operating North of Puthumattalan after advancing some 3 km to the North.

With the completion of the capturing the Northern part of the No Fire Zone the 11 Sri Lanka Light Infantry battalion was entrusted to move towards the southern part of the No Fire Zone. The infantry troops faced stiff resistance from the LTTE as they had deployed large number of snipers along that stretch. Later it was decided to deploy Commando and Special Forces troops along with the 10 Sri Lanka Light Infantry Battalion and 12 Gemunu Watch Battalion.

As of yesterday they advanced some 2 Km towards the Southern part of the No Fire Zone confining the LTTE to 10 square kilometres stretch in Valayamadam, Vellamullivaikkal.

However there was slow progress in their advance to the South as the LTTE further pushed thousands of civilians into the Southern part of the No Fire Zone.

However, hundreds of Tiger cadres also arrived in Government controlled areas mingling with the civilians and surrendered to the Security Forces. LTTE media spokesman Daya Master and translator George Master were also among them. Daya Master had revealed that Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is still living inside the No Fire Zone along with Pottu Amman and Soosai.

According to Daya Master, Tiger leader is waiting to flee the No Fire Zone at the last minute.

The Sri Lanka Navy declared that it had strengthened its presence in the Eastern seas blocking the LTTE from fleeing from the No Fire Zone.

However, by yesterday with around 110,000 civilians had already arrived in Government controlled areas, there was no possibility of the Tiger leader Prabhakaran surviving in the No Fire Zone with the 53 Division and the Task Force VIII under the command of Major General Kamal Gunaratne also operating in the Southern part of the No Fire Zone.

Therefore, Prabhakaran was left with only a few hours for him to decide the way he should die as he had ruined the entire Tamil community putting them through hell on earth for years.