Civilians suffer again as LTTE tries to infiltrate Forces FDLs

West experiences Tiger brutality as infighting spreads to Oslo:

Tiger brutality: It is an obvious fact the LTTE is preparing for a major offensive in the Wanni. As explained by this column last week, the Tiger leaders are now forcibly using the civilian population entrapped in Wanni for their covert operations deploying them for road picket duties and to construct bunkers.

The Tiger outfit is using all available chances to strengthen themselves taking the cover of civilians.

This time they made use of the pilgrims visiting annual Madhu feast to achieve their objectives after forcing the pilgrims attending the Madhu feast to take a detour of nearly 50 kilometres.

The motive of the LTTE was clear when they objected for the moves by the Security Forces to open the Madhu road leading to the Madhu shrine for the pilgrims attending the feast from August 7 to 17.

There was no other reason other than to fortify their positions West of Madhu forcing the pilgrims to taking a detour of 50 kilometres using the entry exit point in Uyilankulam on the Mannar Vavuniya road to visit Madhu shrine.

Despite this the Security Forces had made arrangements to reopen the Madhu road from August 5 to 17 for the benefit of hundreds of devotees proceeding towards the Madhu shrine the LTTE did not agree to open the road for the devotees saying that mines had not been cleared for the road to be opened for the public.

The LTTE also put the lives of the pilgrims attending the feast in danger by directing mortar fire towards the Security Forces taking the cover of the pilgrims attending the feast.

The LTTE is making these desperate attempts as they are well aware that they can make use of this opportunity to strengthen their positions without any resistance from the Security Forces.

It was not an unusual for the Tiger outfit as they made use of the same tactic in Jaffna too in earlier occasions. The LTTE made use of the same theory on the A-9 road when it was opened for the public to launch a major assault on Security Forces defences in Muhamalai.

The LTTE made use of the civilians crossing the Muhamalai entry exit point in the same period this year to infiltrate Security Forces defences having established observation points ahead of their FDLs.

In August last year the Security Forces defeated the LTTE moves to overrun the Security Defences in the Jaffna peninsula and to take full control of the Jaffna peninsula in a 72 hour operation.

The Tiger outfit is now engaged in the same type of operation in the Wanni to infiltrate Security Forces defences. However, the Security Forces have foiled all their attempts to infiltrate cleared areas by inducting troops ahead of the FDLs west of Vavuniya.

According to the Army, so far 1,156 Tiger cadres have been killed in the operations carried out in the west of Vavuniya foiling all the attempts by the LTTE to infiltrate the Forward Defence Lines in the west of Vavuniya.

These Tiger cadres have been killed in ambushes, search and clear operations, artillery and mortar attacks of the Security Forces and also due air strikes.

The Security Forces have intensified their search and clear operations in the west of Vavuniya to thwart all attempts by the LTTE enter the cleared areas.

The Tiger outfit is also intensifying their efforts to launch attacks on civilians in Ethavetunuvewa after intensifying mortar attacks on civilian settlements in the Weli Oya sector.

These attempts have also been thwarted by the Security Forces by launching air attacks to neutralise their gun positions.

As the LTTE is facing a humiliating situation in the Wanni, the Sea Tiger wing which has already faced a severe blow with its leader Soosai severely injured in a explosion in Nanthikadal lagoon in Puthukuduiruppu in Mullaitivu.

Intelligence reports indicate that Sea Tiger leader Soosai is still in a critical condition and is undergoing treatment in a hospital in Puthukuduiruppu, Mullaitivu.

The third in command of the Sea Tiger Wing in the self-styled rank of Lieutenant Colonel Thiyagan (Chandrasekaran Pillai) in a sea battle in the wee hours on Monday. The Fast Attack Craft deployed in the Sea off the Coast Pulmudai detected two clusters of Tiger boats launched to the sea from Nayaru and Mullaitivu around 8.30 p.m on Sunday.

The Navy Fast Attack Craft kept vigilant about this movement and reinforcements were called in to the sea off Pulmudai from Jaffna and Trincomalee.

Around 10 p.m. the Navy observed two clusters of Tiger boats were heading towards Pulmudai and started to engage the two clusters of Tiger boats consist of large, medium and small size boats.

As the Navy Fast Attack Craft directed fire towards the two clusters of Tiger boats one medium size boat got caught in fire and was able to thwart their mission with one boat getting completely destroyed in the Naval fire while a few other boats were hit by the naval fire.

The Navy believes the LTTE Sea Tigers attempted to transport some of their hardcore cadres by sea towards Pulmudai from Mullaitivu for their covert operations in the East and also to rescue the Tiger cadres trapped in the jungles in Trincomalee.

The LTTE has now admitted that six of their hardcore cadres have died in the sea battles. Thiyagan (Chandrasekaran Pillai) the third in command of the Sea Tiger wing in the self styled rank of Lieutenant Colonel was among the killed hardcore cadres.

Kaniyathambi (Sodilingam Nishanthan) residents of Pudukuduarippu in Mullaitivu had died along with another self-styled Captain and three other second Lieutenants whose names as revealed are Agasor (Sewendran alias Arul Suriyan) from Trincomalee, Olineelawan (Eshwaranathan Waran) from Vaunikulam in Mullaitivu, Senthamulvanan (Ahilan Anushan) from Mannar and Aharakkadal (Tambipillai Sashikumar) from Kilinochchi were killed in the sea battle.

'Lt. Col. Thiyagan had commanded a boat "Rajmohan" during this battle and Navy captured the boat "Indumathi" during the sea battle in the sea off Point Pedro.

According to the Navy, Sheliyan the second in command of the Sea Tiger wing has led the battle in the sea off Pulmudai as Sea Tiger leader Soosai is in a critical condition following the explosion.

The incident in which Sea Tiger leader 'Colonel' Soosai was injured has become a controversial topic with two Tamil groups supporting Sea Tiger leader Soosai and LTTE Intelligence Wing leader Pottu Amman clashing in Oslo.

One person was killed and two others were seriously injured during this clash between two LTTE factions in Oslo on Sunday.

'Selika' Ranjan (Mullaitivu) succumbed to his injuries and Kannan and Kuhan are in serious condition in hospital with gunshot injuries, according to reports from Oslo.

The incident had spread shock waves in Norway as such clashes were not usual for the Norwegians.

According to intelligence reports LTTE Intelligence wing leader Pottu Amman is spearheading these type of incidents as he had always wanted to get rid of the leaders challenging his leadership in the LTTE hierarchy as Soosai is the close confidante of the Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

He had never kept room for groom leaders within the LTTE and working hard to create an environment conducive for him to become the leader after Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Therefore, with the movements of the Tiger leader V. Prabhakaran confined to Wanni jungles with his leadership challenged by the Tamil people themselves and by the Security Forces there will be chances for the rift between Pottu Amman and Soosai to widen.