Biggest human drama ever without shedding a drop of blood:

Freeing over 120,000 hostages

Shanika Sriyananda reporting from Puthumathalan

Every night one by one, they came in. Bullets... trappings and anti-personnel mines... nothing could stop them. Braving all forms of terror by their own `liberators' who throw them to die, the innocent souls broke the silence day by day. Each story was full of horror. Being trampled under the iron shoes of the LTTE, people, who were imprisoned, stood up for their own rights. For the first time they went against the LTTE. The aggression against the `sole representatives' was brewing. The blood and tears shed by innocents blotted in that narrow sandy strip - the open prison in Puthumathalan. While the number of civilians were noosed, the deaths kept increasing. Those, who crossed the Nandi Kadal Lagoon, unveiled the secret - the people waiting for the military to open the gates of hell.

The days-long special training, reconnaissance missions where the soldiers were stationed in a lagoon to take the exact glimpse of the terrorist behaviour, and the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle flying in the skies of Puthumathalan giving the images of the terrorists and civilians movements gave teeth to the birth of the `strategic plan' to free thousands of civilians. The small teams of the Special Forces and Commandos did reconnaissance missions along the 10 feet high earth bund and following information of these teams, the soldiers were trained on how to capture the bund using a similar earth bund in Puthukudyirrippu. They did several rehearsals prior to steping into the final mission.

Armed with a `new plan' and set of proposals, the Vanni military leaders met the Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who brought the LTTE to its knees. After hours-long discussions with them on April 18, the war veteran Lt. Gen. Fonseka, who had the last nod from President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, gave the green light to go ahead as planned. Troops of 58 Division, which was at the close range of the No Fire Zone was assigned the task.

It was 11.30 on April 18 that the soldiers started rolling one by one. It seemed `just another day' for the terrorists and civilians behind the huge earth bund of Ampalavanpokkanai, but not for the liberators who stepped inch by inch. The specially trained Commandos and Special Forces took the lead while the soldiers attached to three battalions - 9 Gemunu Watch, 11 Sri Lanka Light Infantry and 8 Gajaba Regiment- of the 58 Division followed. It was a boring night for the soldiers manning the artillery and mortars positioned as they were strictly ordered to halt attacking with heavy weaponry. Those, who were in the rescue mission, too were ordered the same.

The Operation Room of the 58 Division was a live force with its busy GOC Brig, Shavendra Silva and Commando Brigade Commander Col. Ralph Nugera, Special Forces Brigade Commander Col. Athula Kodippili and the 581 Brigade Commander Lt. Colonel Deshapriya Gunawardena closely monitoring all the moves.

Dared

As the lagoon was deep and muddy, the terrain that these soldiers had to cross was not so easy. The monitoring indicated that the terrorists were active but the commandos of the 2 Commando Regiment led by Maj. Shamal Silva and 1 SF troops by Maj. Mahinda Ranasinghe and the soldiers attached to 9 Gemunu Watch commanded by Lt. Col. Lal Chandrasiri, 11 Sri Lanka Light Infantry led by Lt. Colonel Kithsiri Ekanayake and the 8 Gajaba Regiment by Lt. Colonel Chandana Wickremesinghe started proceeding towards the NFZ crossing the difficult terrain braving rains of bullets. A continuous shower during the night brought a relief for the soldiers as they could proceed in silence.

It was a complete mission to rescue civilians and also to liberate land. While the selected troops were proceeding towards the NFZ, soldiers stationed in second and third lines of defence were kept alert to attack the terrorists if the first Line of Defence failed. Another team was stationed West of Nandi Kadal lagoon. From the military `docs' to Sri Lanka Air Force pilots were on alert to assist the whole operation.

The earth bund, which was covered with palmyra leaves was the best defence for the terrorists and the whole ground was set in favour of the LTTE. As planned by Brig. Silva, the troops of the 11 SLLI started its operations from Ampalavanpokkanai, South of the NFZ together with the 1 SF troops, the 8 GR soldiers had advanced from the North of the earth bund in Puthumathalan with the 2 Commando troops. The 9 GW advanced from the centre.

Without leaving breathing space for the terrorists, the Commandos in five eight-man teams hit the bund which stretches to over 4 kms. The Commandos and SF troops were able to capture five strong points of the LTTE along the earth bund. The Commandos captured North of Puthumathalan road and the bund while giving a foot hold for the 8GR to connect to the mainland to get the troops in.

"Civilians were there near the bund and with the fighting going on they knew that the troops had captured the bund. The soldiers announced that the troops had captured the area and asked the civilians to come", Maj. Shamal Silva, Co of the 2 Commandos said adding that the terrorists, who did not have mercy for innocent civilians, had started shooting using the paddle gun to stop civilians fleeing.

The troops who captured the bund at 2 a.m. gained full control of the bund at 4.30 a.m. At first, some of the LTTEers manning the guard points gave access to their own kith and kins to flee and sharp at 5.30 in the morning the `human river' started flowing into the land of freedom.

But the terrorists, who lost control, used a human bomb killing over 17 civilians, who were running for freedom, to turn them back. The human bomb could not stop the mass scale civilian movement. "The terrorists were helpless and they came in despite all warnings. They broke the LTTE bunkers and came. Even we could not control them", he said.

Risk

While civilians were pouring in thanking the soldiers for rescuing them, the soldiers faced risk of separating the civilians from the cadres who were crossing the lagoon mingling with the civilians.

"We could not do much as we were ordered not to shoot. It was soon after the bomb blasts and there was a tendency that civilians would go back due to fear", Maj. Silva said.Lt. Col. Kithsiri Ekanayake, who led the 11 SLLI troops, said that it was a very successful operation and no one had ever heard about such a massive rescue mission carried out purely by the soldiers.

"This was a success due to the sheer commitment of the government to the Army Commander and to the last man in the battle front", he said.

Success did not come magically. It was a result of 'tough home work' done by the soldiers who were in the lagoon neck deep to see the movements of the terrorists. Sometimes they crept upto the bund to watch the civilian movement. They did the reconnaissance missions for days and days until they get the final outcome. It was not easy to hit the bund where the LTTE had their bunkers and crawling trenches every 75 metres.

According to Lt. Col. Ekanayake, the troops had used improvised rafters made out of S-Lon tubes to create a path to transport equipment and weaponry to cross the lagoon and to use it as a bridge. The troops had also laid gunny bags to make a separate path for casualty evacuation and also facilitate the civilians to cross the lagoon. While they were on their mission to capture the bund one soldier trampled an AP mine and the LTTE started attacking the troops.

Neutralise

"But we were able to neutralise them and we first occupied 900 meters of the bund while the SF troops destroyed the LTTE bunkers from South to North. We took extra precautions not to fire a single bullet to harm the civilians. Soldiers kept their promise and by Monday morning civilians started crossing the lagoon", he said."With no time the commandos hit the bund", said a high ranking Commando official adding that the whole operation was a Commando task where the soldiers need the skill of rescuing hostages. He said that it was a surprise move and until the last minute the terrorists were not aware that the troops were at their doorstep.

The second phase of the mission was launched on Monday night and that was to separate Puthumathalan to capture the beach front. The fighting was taking place on Tuesday at the Puthumathalan Hospital when the Sunday Observer reached the area. The terrorists were fighting while being among the sick and the old. The troops were able to gain control by evening and the dead bodies of the LTTE cadres were seen strewn all over. Over 35,000 civilians reached the newly liberated areas in the evening.

The military mission was totally a sensitive manoeuvre as the soldiers hands were tied. They know their lives were at risk as the possibility of the LTTE inflicting a huge disaster was inevitable. But the soldiers were thoroughly ordered not to fire artillery, mortar and the usage of heavy weapons during the mission. He said that as a Commando he was happy as over 85 percent of the hostages were rescued in their mission and nowhere in the world had Army fought in this nature of environment to rescue civilians."It was a complex and complicated environment because much of the burden was on the soldier as he was not given full authority to use maximum fire power because of the civilians", he added.Explaining the mission the 58 Division GOC Brig. Silva said that a large number of civilians fled from Ampalavanpokkanai, but the LTTE had chased a large number of civilians to the Puthumathalan beach front to avoid them fleeing but lost the control.

"We saw Pottu Amman ordering cadres as the LTTE was swept by surprise. Over 45 LTTEers were killed, lots injured and over 150 fled in boats", he said. He said that the number of civilians was an unexpected number and the troops took every step not to harm a single civilian though the terrorists tried their maximum to provoke the soldiers for a fight.

"We identified the LTTE cadres who came mingling with the civilians but we welcomed them as yet another civilian as they were unarmed. As a professional Army we treated them and followed the assurance of the President that the Government would protect those who lay down arms", he said adding that.According to Brig. Silva, after the troops captured the bund, the NFZ divided into three parts - the North 2 km stretch under LTTE control, troops by another 2 km and the rest under the LTTE."On April 22 we again started the operation and from the very recently recruited soldier to Brigade Commanders to myself, we had a target to capture the beach front of the North.

The 58 Division, which started the military offensives from the Eastern beach front, wanted to advance up to the Northern beach front. We captured over 175 kms under LTTE control", he said.The 58 Division which spearheaded the whole rescue mission, according to Brig. Silva, faced a huge challenge. That was to save all the lives without harming any.He thanked the Sri Lanka Air Force for its support in evacuating casualties and facilitating the operations giving clear images of the UAV.The 58 Division concluded its mission gaining control of the whole Northern part of the NFZ after its troops reached the FDLs of the 55 Division.

The human river was continuously flowing through the lagoon throughout the bright Sunday and also on Monday. While the military was reaping the harvest, the unexpected visitor, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who instilled courage in the military to defeat the LTTE, witnessed through the UAV, the brutality of the LTTE which was the shooting of the fleeing civilians.

Not only the President, but the prominent diplomatic circles in the country too witnessed the horror enacted through UAV display. The images rendered them speechless.

The whole world has witnessed how the LTTE, who were armed with weapons were chasing their own people South of the NFZ and killing them. The world saw how the `sole representatives' of Tamils were harassing their own breed as they smelled their last days in Puthumathalan.

Apart from the mission to rescue people, the world saw with their own eyes how the LTTE uses its brutality to explode innocents who run for lives. The so-called `liberators' opened fire at the skeleton like human bodies; no mercy for the tiny tots, the terrorists killed some of those who went against their orders. The world has boasted about the famous Eagle Claws rescue mission to save the lives of US hostages in Teheran in 1980. But history will soon tell how humane is the Sri Lankan soldiers are having led the world's biggest rescue mission saving over 120,000 lives without shedding a single drop of blood of a single hostage.

Pix: Thilak Perera