Hope-filled New Year dawns for Eastern residents freed from LTTE tyranny

Security Forces complete humanitarian mission in East; Boost for resettlement:

A NOBLE MISSION: As the country was preparing to celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, the Security Forces on Wednesday reached new heights in their silent battle fought in the Eastern theatre for nearly three quarters of a year with the capture of Chenkaladi-Maha Oya road from the Tiger terrorists.

The elite Commandos of the Sri Lanka Army supported by the seventh battalion of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry (7SLLI), sixth, seventh and the eighth battalions of the Gemunu Watch (6,7 & 8 GW) completed their month long mission, fully liberating areas south and west of Batticaloa.

The Engineering troops and artillery also extended their support for ground troops to make their mission a success.

As it happened in earlier operations in the East, the Security Forces launch this operation sans any code names, not to capture lands but to liberate the civilian population trapped in uncleared areas. It was not meant to capture all uncleared areas in the Batticaloa district including the Thoppigala jungles where there is no civilian population.

The major focus of the Security Forces was to capture areas west and south of Batticaloa upto the road stretch between Pullimulai to Chenkaladi on the Badulla-Maha Oya Chenkaladi A-5 road which was under LTTE control for more than 14 years since 1994.

The area that came under the focus of the Security Forces was located west of the Batticaloa - Akkaraipattu A-4 road and south of the Batticaloa - Trincomalee A-15 road. The area demarcated for the Security Forces’ humanitarian operation was populated by nearly 75,000 people.

The Police Special Task Force was in control of the A-5 Maha Oya Chenkaladi road upto Pullimulai from the Maha Oya side and the Security Forces had control up to Black Bridge from the Chenkaladi- Batticaloa side. The road stretch between Pullimulai to Chenkaladi was under LTTE control.

The area located east of the Chenkaladi Maha Oya road and west of Batticaloa was the lifeline for Tiger terrorists operating in Thoppigala jungles, as it provided much needed logistics support and manpower through their forcible recruitment drives.

The Tigers also made use of this area to de-stabilise the Security Forces in Vavunathivu, Sathurukondavil, Mailambaveli, Sittandi and Kaluvankerni through intermittent mortar fire.

The LTTE also launched a mortar attack on the helicopter carrying Western diplomats to Batticaloa when it landed at the Weber Stadium in Vavunathivu, from this direction.

Under these circumstances it was essential for the Security Forces to neutralise Tiger threats coming from this direction using the handful of mortar launchers located there, threatening the lives of both civilians and also of the Security Forces.

According to Security Forces estimates, the Tigers had used a few 120 mm mortar launchers, and a 100 mm Mon Gun located in this area to launch attacks on the Security Forces.

Therefore, it became crucial for the Security Forces to capture this area to take full control of the Eastern population thus paralysing Tiger activities, which are now confined to the Thoppigala jungles.

Thousands of civilians left their villages in the west and south of Batticaloa isolating the Tiger cadres in the area, enabling the Security Forces to liberate the area with zero casualties to the civilian population. The same pattern was witnessed during the Vakarai operation.

An estimated 65,126 civilians left the area before the Security Forces humanitarian mission to liberate the area and took shelter at the IDP centres in cleared areas in the Batticaloa district adding to the number of civilians living in the district after being displaced from areas in Trincomalee.

It has again turned into a battle fought by the Security Forces in the Eastern theatre, using their strategies and tactics to counter the guerrilla warfare of the Tiger outfit taking cover under the civilian population to

 thwart military operations to liberate the Tamil population.

The Security Forces again averted face-to-face confrontations with the Tigers, deviating from the earlier practices to capture uncleared areas putting the LTTE to the level of a conventional Army.

On February 24, elite Army commandos were inducted into the area from the southern direction to launch a lightning assault on the Tiger cadres manning the area. The infantry troops from the four infantry battalions were also inducted to consolidate the areas captured after flushing out LTTE cadres.

The troops moved in small groups in a northern direction clearing Tiger threats until they captured strategic Vavunathivu from the Tiger grip on March 25. A major confrontation was reported from the Unnichchiya tank area on March 8 in which six terrorists were killed and 20 others injured.

After the capture of strategic Vavunathivu from the Tiger grip, troops extended their operation to clear Kokkadichcholai, Kurukkalmadam, Appalamthurai, Mavalimunai and Vellaveli. The Kokkadicholai Tiger nerve centre fell to the Security Forces on March 28.

The capture of the Kokkadicholai was the landmark of this operation as troops could capture sophisticated conference halls, medical centres and a large haul of weapons from this nerve centre of the Eastern Command of the LTTE. In the face of the advancing Light Infantry troops of the Sri Lanka Army, the Tigers left most of their weapons and fled.

The Army also described the camp as the point of origin of artillery attacks directed against the diplomatic officials and minister Mahinda Samarasinghe in which US and Italian ambassadors were injured.

With the fall of Kokkadicholai, troops took a large area south and west of Batticaloa town under their control after creating a sort of a defence line connecting Vavunathivu and Unnichchiya areas covering the A-5 road from the Eastern sector.

Then onwards the troops continued their humanitarian mission to capture the A-5 Chenkaladi - Maha Oya road with the task of liberating the area to facilitate the return of the civilian population displaced from the area and enabling people to travel from Batticaloa to Badulla using the shortest possible road.

They succeeded in their efforts on Wednesday afternoon after taking full control of the Badulla - Maha Oya - Chenkaladi road confining an estimated 200 to 300 Tiger cadres to a 150 square kilometre jungle patch in Thoppigala.

During the whole operation, according to Security Forces, 180 LTTE cadres were confirmed killed and 133 LTTE

cadres were wounded. The figure has been finalised through the recovery of LTTE bodies and through intercepted radio transmissions of the LTTE and through the statements of LTTE cadres who surrendered.

The areas captured by the Security Forces will soon be handed over to the Police Special Task Force and the Police to maintain law and order in the area and to facilitate the resettlement of displaced civilians.

Though the mission appeared to be a simple operation for outside observers the Security Forces had to take strategic decisions to make their mission successful. First they had to take care of the nearly 100,000 civilian population who had been displaced from their villages while facing severe criticism from various quarters of society over the displaced civilians.

However, the Security Forces were able to manage all those pressures and also thwart desperate LTTE attempts to blow off their defences using suicide cadres to make their mission successful. The LTTE also directed mortar fire on civilians in Santhiveli, Sittandi and Morakotachchenai areas killing eight civilians and injuring 25 civilians.

Through the successful completion of the last lap of the Security Forces mission in the East, they have been able to take full control of the entire civilian population in the Eastern province bordering Yan Oya in the North of Trincomalee and towards the southern tip of Ampara district bordering the sea.

It was the LTTE which triggered off the battles in the East with their shortsighted decision to close the Mavilaru anicut depriving 30,000 people of their basic need, water.

The initial threat posed by the LTTE in Mavilaru has brought disastrous consequences to the LTTE, with the group losing full control of the Eastern population and dropping to the level of jungle fighters in the Eastern theatre.

Security Forces launched this operation with the aim of liberating the Tamil civilians who were undergoing immense suffering at the hands of the LTTE. The Tigers faced consecutive defeats at the hands of the Security Forces, first losing Mavilaru, secondly Sampur, thirdly Gangai and Manirasakulam, Kathirveli and Vakarai, fourthly Kaddawan, Kumburuppiddi and Peraru and finally west and south of Batticaloa.

The Security Forces had to liberate Mavilaru to assure a continuous water supply for more than 30,000 civilians in Trincomalee south. Then they had to flush out Tiger threats from Sampur to ensure a life free of terror to facilitate the resettlement of thousands of Muslims displaced from the area due to LTTE firing.

The operation carried out by the Security Forces in Sampur enabled them to further strengthen security for the Trincomalee harbour and the Naval Base which were located within the range of artillery guns located in Sampur.

The Forces were able to secure the full control of the Sampur area on 26th September, 2007. After strengthening the security of Trincomalee harbour, areas west of Muttur were taken under Security Forces control on October 8, 2006 after a six-day operation by Special Forces.

This area fell to the Security Forces with the least resistance by the LTTE, who had withdrawn from the area in face of the advancing troops. Therefore, the victories recorded by the Security Forces were not highlighted.

But no one can deny the strategic importance of the capture of these areas, considering the locations of Tiger bases surrounding the Kodyar bay in Trincomalee.

The Vakarai operation that continued from October 30, 2006 to January 20, 2007 was highlighted due to the LTTE’s inhumane act of using civilians trapped in the area as a shield to prevent the troops marching in to their area.

But the Security Forces were able to face that challenge too with their determined effort to capture the area from the Tiger grip causing zero casualties to civilians and minimum casualties to own troops.

Though the capture of Vakarai with minimal casualties was given wide coverage by the media people in the South tended not to believe it since such victories were unusual for them - they were used to hear about victories of Security Forces over the dead bodies of soldiers.

This time, the people did not witness funerals of fallen war heroes as the Armed Forces were able to secure these victories with minimum casualties to own troops due to the tactics they adopted during these operations. One was deploying small teams to assault Tiger hideouts.

Due to the use of small teams, the Forces were not exposed to the enemy fire in large numbers enabling them to contain the casualty figures at a minimum level.

With these successes the Security Forces went ahead with their mission to fully clear the entire Eastern province from the clutches of the LTTE flushing out Tiger cadres from Kaddawan in the north of Trincomalee from January 22 to February and then in Kumburuppiddi from February 10 to February 24.

The graphics will give a clear picture of what the Security Forces have achieved in the Eastern theatre commencing from the Mavilaru humanitarian operation in July last year.

With the completion of the humanitarian mission in Batticaloa west and Batticaloa south the Security Forces have achieved a major victory for almost all the civilians displaced from the Batticaloa district as they will soon be able to resettle in their villages.

The civilian population, including the Internally Displaced People, will soon be able to see a drastic change in their lives once the Security Forces and the Government face the challenge of resettling the displaced civilians after re-establishing civil administration in these areas.