LTTE desperate as troops advance on Wanni strongholds

The desperate attempt by the Tiger outfit by displaying their
firepower last Saturday firing artillery on to the Pamapaimadu artillery
gun position of the Sri Lankan Army has brought bad consequences to the
Tiger outfit.
In face of the desperate attempts of the LTTE to put a stop to the
advancing troops to the Wanni strongholds of the LTTE, the Tiger leader
Velupillai Prabhakaran, gave clear orders to his senior military leaders
to launch this massive assault on troops now operating ahead of Security
Forces Forward Defence Line (FDL) in West of Omanthai.
Though the LTTE intention was to stop the advancing troops to the
Wanni strongholds, the Tiger outfit had ulterior motives behind their
failed attack on the troops in West of Omanthai and in East of Madhu
area.
The objective of the operation launched by the LTTE was patently
clear, with the orders given to the LTTE leaders now entrapped in small
patches in Thoppigala jungles.
Destabilise situation in the East
Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has given instructions to 'Jeyam'
who is leading the handful number of Batticaloa cadres in Thoppigala
jungles to hold onto the area without fleeing the area in the face of
Security Forces operations to capture Thoppigala jungles.
Apart from this the Tiger leader has also given instructions to Tiger
cadres now operating mingling with the civilian population in the
Batticaloa district to engage in operations to destabilise the peaceful
situation in the East, so that the Tiger outfit can give a message to
the international community that their presence is still there in the
East.
Otherwise, the Tiger leader is aware that the international community
will not accept the LTTE presence in the Eastern province. One of the
major factors, contributed for the Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran
to take this decision was due to Japanese Special Peace Envoy Yasushi
Akashi's visit to Vakarai on Thursday, Yasushi Akashi decided to visit
Vakarai cancelling his visit to Kilinochchi, to observe the progress
achieved by the Government in the East, in resettlement of displaced
civilians.
In the face of these developments the Tiger outfit increased the
violent activities in the Batticaloa district to disrupt the ongoing
process to resettle the displaced civilians in the Batticaloa district.

The War Heroes Day was held recently at Mailapitiya, Kandy. Here
members of a war hero light an oil lamp to remember their father and
the husband. |
The bomb exploded targeting the Colombo Batticaloa train at Vakaneri
junction, the claymore mine explosion targeting the STF personnel were
among many incidents that took place in the Batticaloa district.
However, Yasushi Akashi made his visit to Vakarai on Thursday as
scheduled despite the violent activities taking place in the Batticaloa
district.
On his return, Akashi expressed his satisfaction over the progress
achieved by the Government in resettling displaced civilians in their
villages without taking a longer period.
However, the Security Forces took note of this situation and the
ulterior motive of the LTTE and reacted promptly, expediting the search
and clear operations in the East as a threat would probably come through
the Tiger cadres mingling with the civilian population.
Operation Niyathai Jaya
The relaunch of the operation Niyathai Jaya by STF Commandoes was one
step taken to flush out the Tiger cadres still operating in the Ampara
district as Defence Authorities got information about the presence of
Tiger cadres in the Kanchikudichu Aru jungles despite the operation
launched by the STF few months back.
The presence of Tiger cadres in these jungles had taken advantage of
the internal conflict within the Karuna faction to create mayhem in the
East, by engaging in factional killings.
The STF was on alert about few unidentified armed groups operating in
the Ampara district and launched this operation to flush out such
threats from jungle patches to fully ensure the security of the area.
The main factor behind the re-launch of Niyathai Jaya operation by
the STF was their objective to destroy more Tiger cadres during their
operation, although they were able to capture more Tiger bases within
the Kanchikudichci Aru jungles.
Therefore, the re-launch of the Niyathai Jaya operation will ensure
that the jungles in the Ampara district will be free of Tiger threat as
Army troops are flushing-out Tiger threat from the Thoppigala jungles.
In this backdrop, the troops operating in Thoppigala jungles also
expedited their operation to flush out Tiger cadres to fully ensure the
security of the civilians now being resettled in Kokkadicholai area and
later in Vavunathivu in the West of Batticaloa.
During the 48 hours that ended yesterday at noon, troops were able to
capture South of Narakamulla and North of Pankudaveli area in the
Thoppigala area taking four Tiger bases under their control. The Tiger
bases at Ibbanwila, Weppachchiveli, Akkarativu and Mavaddiodi were taken
under the Security Forces control along with a large haul of weapons
left behind by the fleeing Tiger cadres.
According to Security Forces three Tiger cadres committed suicide as
these Tiger bases fell into the hands of the Security Forces while 30
Tiger cadres were killed in the confrontations.
Security Forces handed over eight bodies of the Tiger cadres to the
LTTE through the ICRC officials in Batticaloa.
Troops carried out search and clear operations in Mavaddiodi area
while consolidating their positions in other areas. One soldier was
killed in action while 17 others suffered injuries during this
operation.
The troops are poised to capture the entire Tiger bases located in
the Thoppigala jungles posing a major challenge to the Tiger leader who
has given instruction to their cadres to hold onto the area.
Therefore, the battle in Thoppigala jungles has become a do or die
battle for nearly 300 cadres entrapped in the jungle under the
leadership of Jeyam who also led the Tiger cadres in Vakarai until
troops captured Vakarai in January this year.
More Tiger cadres will have to commit suicide in the coming days when
troops advance towards their territory to fully take control over
Thoppigala to facilitate the opening of the Chenkaladi Maha Oya road.
The Security Forces will be able to achieve this task, despite the
attempts made by the LTTE to divert the attention of the Security Forces
more on to the Wanni by launching sudden attack on troops operating
ahead of the FDL in West of Omanthai.
The troops will move further into the Tiger territory in the Wanni to
neutralise their gun positions consolidating their defences further in
the area where fighting erupted during the past few days commencing from
June 2, night.
The Security Forces, through the incident that unfolded on last
Saturday night, have got clear evidence to prove that Tiger cadres have
infiltrated into the Government controlled areas through the Omanthai
entry exit point mingling with the civilians arriving in the area to
attend to their daily needs to accomplish their targets and on espionage
missions.
According to Security Forces, these cadres equipped with the latest
Ground Positioning Equipment, military communication sets, compasses,
binoculars, night vision devices and satellite images to direct
artillery fire on to the gun positions have infiltrated into the area
with the objective of direct observation of the gun positions of the
Security Forces.
The Tiger outfit engaged in such operations in Jaffna too when prior
to their attack on the Security Forces defences in Muhamalai, August
last year.
They made use of these equipment to direct the artillery fire
directly on gun position and mini ammo dumps located close to the gun
position. The Tiger cadres directed their 130 mm gun located at
Palampiddy located 30 Kilo metres away from Pamapaimadu gun position
with the help of the Tiger cadres infiltrated to the area mingling with
the civilian population.
They redirected the artillery fire when their artillery rounds some
kilometres away from gun position communicating with the Tiger cadres
through their military communication sets. The direct hits of the
artillery rounds in the mini ammo dump located close to the gun position
caused the destruction of 763, 130 mm artillery rounds stored close to
the gun position.
However, the 130 mm artillery gun remained unharmed despite the Tiger
artillery fire on the gun position.
Aim of the LTTE
The aim of the LTTE was to neutralise the artillery guns to make a
major assault on the troops operating ahead of the FDL in West of
Omanthai. However, troops with the support of the Sri Lanka Air Force
neutralised the gun position located in Palampiddi.
Simultaneously with the artillery fire on the Pamapaimadu gun
position, Tiger cadres launch an attack on the troops operation on the
Vilanthikulam - Vavuniya road and Palampiddi - Vavuniya Road compelling
them to readjust their defences. The troops operating as small teams
ahead of the FDL lost communication with their main bases and withdrew
from their defences as they alone cannot face the Tiger assault as
nearly 400, Tiger cadres have participated in this operation.
An army Personnel carrier which went ahead of the FDL to bring in
casualties also got caught in the LTTE fire and were later captured by
the LTTE.
However, Security Forces recaptured the positions taken by the LTTE
by Sunday morning flushing out Tiger cadres from the area and
strengthened their positions. Later on Monday and Tuesday too Tiger
cadres confronted the Security Forces operating ahead of the FDL.
During these confrontations, the Security Forces, through their
technical sources confirmed that, 62 Tiger cadres have been killed and
89 have sustained injuries.
The Security Forces too suffered heavily losing 17 soldiers, out of
which 15 bodies have already been recovered. They accepted two bodies
identified as soldiers after the LTTE handed over 15 bodies to the
Security Forces through the ICRC.
Eighty one soldiers have also been injured during these battles and
35 have already returned to battle after undergoing treatment at
hospitals.
However, Security Forces have lost contact with three small groups
during these battles. Two officers are among them. Till yesterday
evening they have not communicated with the Security Forces.
According to intercepted communications of the LTTE after the battles
in the west of Omanthai 11 Tiger leaders were among the 86 Tiger cadres
killed in the confrontation in the battles on June 2, 3 and June 5.
In addition to this 89 cadres have also been injured during these
battles.
The LTTE have announced the names of Arivannan and Kutti in the
self-styled rank of 'Captain', eight leaders Anandan, Kandaikumar,
Kanaruban, Ariyan, Murali, Kandakumaran, Kanawanan and Kalai Cheliyan in
the ranks of 'Lieutenant' and 'Second Lieutenant' Purachchi among the
leaders killed during these confrontations.
According to information more than 500 cadres have participated in
these battles as one leader was commanding nearly 40 Tiger cadres. The
Tiger leadership is making these desperate attempts as they are well
aware that troops won't take too long a period to enter into their
territory and capture their strongholds and want somehow to put an end
to the winning trend of the Security Forces.
However, the task before the Security Forces in Wanni will be stiff
one as Tiger outfit would make use of their maximum strength to defend
their territory using maximum fire power as their guns remain intact in
the Wanni despite their running short of man power.
In this context the Navy will have to play a key role to keep the
Tiger fire power at its minimum level, without allowing the Tiger cadres
to smuggle arms and ammunition to the uncleared areas, as there is clear
evidence to prove that LTTE is still smuggling arms and ammunition using
small boats.
The steps taken by the Indian Navy to increase their patrolling in
the Palk Strait and Bay of Bengal will help the Sri Lanka Navy to
further control the LTTE arms smuggling, mingling with the fishing
boats. Apart from this the LTTE will also come out with their usual
tactics in Colombo to create a major calamity in Colombo targeting VVIPs
and Security Forces.
Therefore, Colombo security will be most vulnerable in the coming
days as intelligence sources have received information about many
explosive laden vehicles reaching south similar to that of the lorry
detected at Kotawehera Police check point last week.
However, despite this serious security situation Defence Authorities
will have to be sensible enough to foil these Tiger attempts without
harassing the Tamil civilians in Colombo as it would lead to a bigger
problem in the South.
The Defence authorities should tackle the issue of Colombo security
without creating fear psychosis among the minority communities in the
country specially those living in Colombo as it would make all the
attempts by the Government to fight against terrorism of the LTTE,
futile. If further attempts are made to evict ethnic Tamils from
Colombo, that would definitely lead to an ethnic backlash in the South
which was long expected by the LTTE through their brutal bomb attacks
targeting ethnic Sinhalese in the South and also to threaten villages in
the North and the East.
Therefore, it is commendable that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is
committed for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic issue, took note of
the situation and asked Inspector General of Police to submit the
comprehensive report, stating how Police acted to evict Tamil civilians
living in Colombo lodges.
If justice is done to the innocent Tamil civilians they, will
definitely help to strengthen the security in Colombo against the will
of the LTTE to create mayhem in Colombo.
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