Strike Force Command:

They came, they saw, they conquered!

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

News broke that the Red Land forces were taking some top foreign officials and a few locals hostage. They were held hostage in a pavilion of a sports stadium, at a strategically important location.

It was confirmed during the height of the operations that due to the setbacks suffered by Red Land, it was a do-or-die situation for them.

In the wake of the new developments and the unfavourable situation they faced, the Red Land Forces with the help of the Scorpions took them hostage as a last resort to stop the onslaught by the Blue Land Forces.

It was also confirmed that about 21 Blue Landers were taken as hostage and were in the custody of the Red Land Forces. They had killed about 3 officers during interrogation. With this latest tactic adopted by the Red Land Forces to take civilians and foreigners hostage, it disturbed the normalcy of Blue Land.

Blue Land and Red Land, which belonged to one island some years ago had historically deep-rooted animosity, hatred and mistrust among the two states due to their fights over natural wealth. Blue Land, which is economically sound, gained wealth due to its large mineral deposits – Silica, Ilmenite and other minerals in the Eastern territorial waters.

It owns a strategically important harbour , which is one of the most profitable international shipping hubs. Red Land demanded for an equal share of hydrocarbon resources, which was discovered in the territory of Blue Land.

Many times the two groups fought over borders and the wealth of natural resources.

In the decade-old disputes, Red Land aimed to expand their borders and also capture sensitive areas, which are of economical importance, of Blue Land.But Blue Land’s military, which aimed to establish territorial integrity of the country, wanted to end the disputes for the benefit of the country’s economic growth by securing its oil and gas reserves. Within a few hours after the bad news about taking its people hostage, the Blue Land military implemented a daring mission to rescue the victims.

The Blue Land military chief instructed to mobilize its highly skilled professional soldiers – the Commandos – to counter terrorists and rescue the hostages. Due to the nature of the complexity of the rescue mission, which is to be carried out in a location situated in the centre of the town, more snipers were used to gather-real time information and maintain surveillance. The assault men are highly trained and mastered the skills of sharp shooting in close quarter combat.

It was on the afternoon of September 3 that the Blue Land Forces attacked a the vital point – the pavilion of the McHeyzer Stadium in the heart of the Trincomalee town to rescue hostages. Assault men rush into a room full of armed men behind closed doors, in a almost kind of unconcern for one’s own life, with a devil-may-care attitude, ultra quick reflexes, ability to take in a scene in minimum time and start shooting without harming innocents and capacity for unarmed hand-to-hand combat.

The sharp targets of the snipers killed the Red Land soldiers who were guarding the pavilion.

Supported by the Air Force AN 32, Bell 212 and MI 17, the well trained Blue Land soldiers landed on ground and surrounded the stadium without leaving breathing space for the Red Land soldiers to retaliate.

In a 15-minute rescue mission, the Blue Land forces rescued all the hostages without any harm and captured the strategically important place in the heart of the city.

After some years of wiping out LTTE terror, people living in the vicinity of the Trincomalee town recalled their fear-filled days.

Soon they felt that it was the final episode of the three-week long joint military exercise, ‘Cormorant Strike II - 2011’ by the Sri Lanka Army, which brought over 3,500 military men including Navy and Air Force into one fold to keep up their readiness to face counter-terrorism and also hostage rescue missions in any given such occasions.

The Army’s elite Commandos and Special Forces soldiers were mainly engaged in the training which was mainly focused on an amphibious operation.

The main purpose of the joint training exercise is to give anopportunity for the elite forces of the country’s tri-services to carry out training in a near realistic semi conventional operational environment to broaden their understanding and sharpen the skills necessary for possible eventualities.

Among the objectives of launching the Cormorant Strike was to give the opportunity to Commandos and soldiers of the Special Forces to enhance practical knowledge in decision making, to understand the conduct of integrated sea and air operations and to expose commandos in the nature and conduct of joint operations and educate special forces on the capabilities, limitations and resources of sister services.

The elite Blue Land soldiers completed their hostage rescue mission successfully in the presence of the Army Chief Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, the Defence Attachés from US, Russia, Japan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh and other senior tri-service officers.

Apart from commandos and special forces, a large contingent of I Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (VIR) and 20 Gajaba Regiment (GR) took part in the exercise. Over 110 officers of the Commando Regiment, 90 officers of the Special Forces, 400 sailors and 150 Air Force personnel, in addition to some 2750 Other Ranks in the Army engaged in the exercise ended last Sunday.

Cormorant Strike, which is the brainchild of Secretary Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had its first event in Mannar and Mullaitivu in 2010. The exercise, which was launched under the guidance of ArmyChief, conducted mock ‘Raids on boat yards’, ‘Taking of high value targets’, ‘Reconnaissance’, ‘Surveillance on targets’, ‘Airborne operations’, ‘Seaborne operations’, ‘Amphibious landing’, ‘Path-finding missions’, ‘Para jump into enemy strongholds’, ‘Ambushes’, ‘Search operations’, ‘Counter terrorist actions and Hostage Rescue Mission’.

Brigadier K.P.A. Jayasekara, Director, ‘Exercise Cormorant Strike II - 2011’ and Special Operations Commander said the exercise commenced August 22 between Trincomalee, Mullativu and PadaviParakramapura with the participation of the Special Forces of the Sri Lanka Army, Special Boat Squadron of the Sri LankaNavy assisted by the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Exercise area

“The exercise area spread over 7500 sq km covering 3 administrative districts of the country which provides ample space for the small group covert operation of Special Operational Forces.

The Operations environment of the Exercise is to deliberately designed as a semi conventional; combining both conventional and insurgency situations, to be realistic and to simulate most likely future battle environments”, he said.

According to Brig. Jayasekara the elite element of the Sri Lanka Navy, the Special Boat Squadron which comprises highly trained and skilled men with high tech speed crafts for shallow water special operations was continuously employed throughout the period of operation with consistent success. “Over 40 naval vessels including Shakthi, Ranavijaya, Ranagaja, the Fast Missile vessels (A unit of inshore patrol crafts), Fast attack boats (Arrow Boats) are taken for the exercise.

The Sri Lanka Air Force played a critical role in the overall operational plan by maintaining aerial surveillance, providing close air support, conducting air interdictions and transporting men, material and equipment necessary for the troop buildup and their sustenance in the enemy’s rear”, he said adding that the snipers and assault men are being used on this operation design combination of open air sniper option and building intervention, precisely coordinate with air component where success depends on close coordination and corporation between all agencies involved in hostage rescue operation.

The Commando Brigade mobilised 14 LRP Detachments, 11 Hostages Rescue Team and 9 Squadrons in to the operational are to carry out deep and decisive operations. Troop inductions took place mostly in the hours of darkness through Air and Naval means, and through land infiltrations.

“Hostages rescue operations are the most difficult type of special operation missions.

They require absolute precision and demand a specific type of force with attributes and capabilities that distinguish them from conventional forces or even regular Special Operations Forces.

The special skills required by a rescue force suchas specialized shooting techniques, breaching, technical and tactical surveillance, and close quarter battle are even more technical and sophisticated than those required of regular SOF units”, Brig. Jayasekara said.

According to Director of the exercise, the most important part of a rescue operation was saving the lives of hostages.

The Broader concept of the Hostage Rescue Operations are common to all specialised units worldwide and an operational plan for a specific mission is formulated with the right blend of such universally accepted know-how, expertise and the resources available with the action force.

Use of force in a hostage crisis situation is considered the last resort which will be ordered by the highest strategic decision makers”, he said.

In the ‘Cormorant Strike’, soldiers of tri-forces had spent eight days for planning and 14 days in the jungles fighting with the enemy.

Among the exercise controlling authority were the Director Operations Brig. Nirmal Dharmarathna, overall Operations Commander (Eastern Naval Area) Rear Admiral J.S.K. Kolombage, Group Captain R.A.U.P. Rajapaksa, and Special Forces Commander Col. Harendra Ranasinghe.

The hostage rescue operation was conducted under the command of Lt Col Gnanarathne under the instructions of Commando Brigade Commander Col. Lalantha Gamage.