Crossing of strategic earth bund

The entering of new battle formations into the Wanni liberation operation gave a hard time to the LTTE as their capability to maneuver their cadres to face all these battle formations became increasingly difficult at the beginning of the last quarter of the year 2008.

As described last week, the ability to increase the manpower of the Sri Lanka Army helped to form new battle fronts in support of the 57, 58 and 59 Divisions engaged in the Wanni liberation operation by this time.

Since Jaffna front was comparatively a narrow front, there was no space to open up new battle fronts from there. Therefore, all the new battle formations were added to the wider front created in the southern part of the Wanni theatre.

By mid of 2008 the Task Force 2 under the command of Brigadier Rohana Bandara was added to the Wanni liberation operation and deployed in the Eastern flank of the 57 Division from Mundimuruppu area.

Therefore, the battle front of the West of A-9 road was progressing well by the beginning of the third quarter of the year 2008.

The 58 Division which was advancing towards Pooneryn along the A-32 road covering a wider area had reached Kilinochchi district by August 14, 2008 with the capture of Mulangavil town, one of the major administrative bases of the LTTE.

The 57 Division which was operating parallel to the A-9 road with a considerable distance to the strategic supply route took control of major townships, Thunukkai and Mallavi, depriving the LTTE of its major supply route towards the Western coast.

After 57 division successfully captured Mallavi and Uyilankulam on August 22, 08, and after the sudden fall of Mulangavil on August 14, 2008 the LTTE had to redesign its military strategy to defend its major Tiger strongholds Pooneryn and Kilinochchi which were at greater risk.

But they did not think of a major strategy other than creating major obstacles to delay the advance of the troops into their strongholds.

It was more like a withdrawal plan from their strongholds as they were aware of the fact that there was no way of defending these strongholds from the troops.

This time too they adopted the same strategy as in the battles in the Mannar Rice Bowl creating a huge ditch cum earth bund from Nachchikuda to Akkarayankulam taking the cover of the thick jungle.

The Commando and SF troops found this huge earth bund ahead of their defences in their attempt to move further ahead of the defences.

This time the earth bund they created turned out to a deadlier one as it created a huge frontage and bunker line to deploy their cadres in self defence. The attempts made by the 58 Division and the 57 Division to breach this defence line in head on confrontation with the LTTE failed on several occasions as the LTTE used a tactic to round up the soldiers once they reached the earth bund.

Number of soldiers went missing on several occasions when the 571 Brigade made attempt to breach this defence line of the LTTE West of Akkarayankulam.

Apart from creating this huge earth bund from Nachchikuda to Akkarayankulam the LTTE also tried its best to create a panic situation in the South launching several desperate attacks.

The LTTE’s three-pronged attack on the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters on September 9, 08, was a desperate attempt by to divert the attention of the Security Forces from the battle front.

However, such attempts by the LTTE, further boosted the courage and determination of the Security Forces to defeat and neutralize LTTE threats.

This desperate attack compelled the Security Forces to shift their attention towards the A-9 road which was not in their interest list until then. Therefore, with the capture of Thunukkai and Mallavi new battle formations were deployed to secure the A-9 road and to restrict the possibilities of moving the LTTE’s artillery guns to target Vavuniya.

As the interests of the battle formations changed so fast the LTTE continued its efforts to further expand the defence line they created between Nachchikuda to Akkarayankulam towards the A-9 road towards Murikandi. That was to prevent the 57 Division reaching the outskirts of Kilinochchi town.

Whilst 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva made attempts to breach this defence line from the East of Nachchikuda through thick jungle patches the 57 Division under the command of Major General Jagath Dias continued their effort to prevent the LTTE further expanding the earth bund.

Therefore, field commanders had to rethink strategies to divert the attention of the LTTE and clear a stretch of earth bund to make their way towards the North. On September, 15, 2008 troops attached to the 57 Division under the command of Major General Jagath Dias completed one of the tactical moves towards East of Akkarayankulam Tank changing their axis of advance towards Killinochchi in a sudden move. This sudden change in the pattern of the advance put the LTTE in a more desperate situation compelling them to fight tooth and nail to defend their ground.

Fierce battles continued in Akkarayankkulam East as the LTTE launched barrages of artillery and mortar towards the advancing troops whilst facing the troops in a face to face battle and launching counter attacks one after the other to recapture their lost terrain.

Amidst heavy resistance and with a considerable number of soldiers sacrificing their lives in the fierce battles, the troops attached to 57 Division advanced six kilometers east of Akkaraynakulam. Their advance towards the East of Akkarayankulam was a major blow to the LTTE. The LTTE was facing a disadvantageous situation as troops advanced closer to Jaffna-Kandy A-9 Road from Kokavil direction and were operating almost hugging the A-9 Road for the first time in the one and half year long Wanni operations despite the dominance of the A-9 Road up to Omanthai from the South and up to Muhamalai from the North. The 57 Division also took control of the area surrounding Kokavil Rupavahini tower area in their bid to cut off the links between Omanthai and Kilinochchi at a time the LTTE wanted to have links along this route.

As troops attached to the 57 Division advanced towards A-9 Road and further towards Kilinochchi troops attached to the 58 Division operating in the Killinochchi district cleared their path towards the North after capturing more than 1.5 kilometres of stretch of huge earth bund which had been constructed from Nachchikuda to Akkarayan extending for more than 24 kilometres.

The vital stretch of this earth bund in Karambakulam West of Vannerikulam and East of Nachchikuda was captured on September 17, 2008 morning around 8 a.m. with troops attached to 11 Sri Lanka Light Infantry Battalion under the command of Lt. Colonel Senaka Wijesuriya, 10 Gajaba Regiment under the command of Major Sameera and 9 Gemunu Watch Battalion under the command of Lt. Colonel Lal Chandrasiri.

This vital earth bund had been heavily booby trapped by the LTTE as they feared troops advance into Killinochchi from this direction since it was the 58 Division troops who first entered the Kilinochchi District border after completely liberating the Mannar District.

After capturing this stretch of earth bund, the troops of the 58 Division further expanded their control over the earth bund whilst advancing Northwards. Soon after taking control of this patch of earth bund the 58 Division expanded it for another 3 Kilometres stretch between Karambakulam and Vannerikulam West after two days of fighting.

It was after sacrificing the lives of ten soldiers and another 30 soldiers sustaining injuries that the 58 Division achieved this success.

The soldiers on the battlefront braved all the booby traps and mine fields of the LTTE advancing one after the other whilst observing their colleagues getting injured caught in AP mines.

They showed maximum commitment towards capturing this earth bund which stood as a major barrier towards their advance towards the North.

The main aim of the troops was to decimate the LTTE during this offensive and they achieved that task also killing more than 40 Tiger cadres and foiling their numerous attempts to recapture this terrain.

On October 19, fierce fighting continued in Akkarayankulam West as the LTTE continued to launch counter attacks on the troops which were holding the massive earth bund west of Akkarayankulam tank as they were aware that the loss of this earth bund would result in the loss of the Akkarayan village also to the security forces.

By October 19, afternoon the 58 Division completed the task of capturing the earth bund from west of Pandiveddikulam to Akkarayan west, capturing one kilometre stretch of earth bund east of Vannerikulam.

With the capture of the one km stretch of earth bund east of Vannerikulam the 58 Division fully captured the 10 kilometre stretch of earth bund between the west of Pandiveddikulam and towards the east of Vannerikulam.

Pandiveddikulam is located some 7 kilometres north east of Nachchikudha.

With the completion of this task there was only a kilometre stretch of the earth bund west of Akkarayankulam left to be captured by the 57 Division to take full control of the earth bund from west of Pandiveddikulam to Akkarayankulam.

As fighting continued south of Kilinochchi on October 17, 58 Division troops cut-off Mannar-Poonaryn (A-32) road north of Nachchikudha, thus effectively encircling Nachchikudha, which was the main remaining Sea Tiger stronghold on the northwestern coast of the island.

To achieve this task 58 Division troops bypassed the LTTE stronghold Nachikuda, captured Manniyankulam and Vanneikulam and advanced along the A32 route to Pooneryn, completely cutting off the LTTE supply routes to Nachchikuda. After 58 Division troops cut off the A-32 road from the North of Nachchikuda, the Nachchikuda Sea Tiger base was rendered untenable to the LTTE.

Following this tactical move by the 58 Division, on October 29 they took control of this strategic township after nearly two months of battle to overcome this biggest obstacle created by the LTTE. Troops of the 58 Division launched a multi-pronged offensive and marched towards Nachchikuda from three directions destroying and capturing vital terror positions in the area.

The troops of three military battle formations, the one which cut-off Mannar- Poonaryn (A-32) road from the south Pallawarayankaddu area moved from north to south along the A-32 main road, the other marched northwards from immediate south of Nachchikuda, and the third formation in the northeastern flank advanced towards Nachchikuda capturing Jeyapuram, entering Nachchikuda and gaining total control over the area breaching Nachchikuda’s complete length of the well-fortified LTTE FDL.

With the capture of this vital terrain the 58 Division laid a solid foundation for its march towards Pooneryn, its prime target by that time, thus posing a huge threat to the Tiger stronghold in Kilinochchi from the Eastern flank. The 571 Brigade operating under the command of Colonel G.V. Ravipriya also captured key Akkarayankulam town on November 6, making further strides in their bid to advance towards the Tiger strong hold Kilinochchi.

Troops, attached to the 7 Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI), 12 Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR) and the 9 Gajaba Regiment (GR) achieved this task after fierce battle with the LTTE.