Forces determined to liberate Northern masses from Tiger grip

The LTTE had no chance to recover from its biggest shock so far as they received yet another shock last Sunday morning, losing its last floating warehouse in the deep seas off Dondra Head.

It was not a matter of victory but a matter of managing the available resources and a matter of reacting to a situation immediately.

Though Sri Lanka Navy was not equipped with superior Naval facilities like other nations in the region, through these operations they demonstrated a larger degree of commitment to fulfil its task of starving the Tiger outfit of arms and ammunition extending their Naval operations into the deep seas.

The LTTE never expected the Navy to launch such a quick operation to destroy the last ship available with the outfit.

What surprised the LTTE last time, when three of their ships were challenged in the international waters was the presence of SLN vessels in the international waters far away from the Sri Lankan territorial waters.

This time the LTTE never expected them to be back in international waters in search of the last LTTE vessel.

They were mistaken in their judgements over the SLN this time, as they thought that they can buy time while the Navy was celebrating their biggest victory, to replenish their cadres in the Wanni.

The SLN took no time to rest, in planning their next operation as they are well aware that one more LTTE vessel was operating in the international waters to be detected and destroyed after their ceremonial reception of men of war.

Sayura and Suranimala the offshore petrol vessels which arrived at the Trincomalee harbour on September 17 following their victorious mission of destroying three LTTE vessels in the deep seas were reassigned for the task along with the two logistic crafts P-520 and P-521.

There was no need to refix the same number of vessels for the task as they have already known the task before them. However, another offshore Patrol Vessel Sagara was assigned to the task.

The three ships, two from the Trincomalee and one from the Colombo harbour headed towards southern territorial waters of Sri Lanka on October 1. No one noticed the move this time too as it was usual for these offshore petrol vessels to go into the southern seas on routine patrolling.

But this time too, they tactically moved into the Extended Exclusive Economic Zone and joined together in search of the rogue ship which they were searching for as they had information that it was heading towards the Sri Lankan territorial waters after escaping the Naval assault last month.

As they saw no signs of a rogue ship within the EEZ they further moved into the international waters off Dondra Head. For the first six days they were operating in the international waters without any sign of a rogue ship.

It was only on October 6 they had blips on the radars of the ships when they were 1400 to 1500 Kilo metres away from Dondra Head. They detected the ship without a name and flag heading towards Sri Lanka and searched for further details of the ship.

Suddenly they observed that the ship was speeding in the opposite direction after it appeared in the radars of the Naval ship.

The Navy ships gave chase for more than 36 hours till they observed the ship visually at 5.30 am on October 7. As they visually observed the ship the Navy through the international maritime channel talked to the ship to identify it.

The men on board the suspicious vessel talked in English but with a Tamil accent giving a false name. Immediately the Navy operations room in Colombo confirmed that the name given by the ship was incorrect.

The ship was clearly identified by the Navy in accordance with the details given by the Tiger cadres on board the Sri Krishna fishing trawler captured in the Maldivian seas on May 15 this year. That was the key source of information the Sri Lanka Navy had regarding these mid sea arms smuggling operations of the LTTE.

This information along with other intelligence sources received through the interception of the LTTE communications helped the Navy to identify and locate the ship without any mistake. The Sri Lanka Navy was armed with all the international maritime laws to attack these rogue ships in the international waters.

With the identification process completed through channel 16, the Navy challenged the ship as it did in earlier operation too. By this time they were some 1700 Km away from Dondra Head.

The reaction was a firing from the ship towards the Naval vessel. The Navy vessels reached the firing range of the LTTE ship, which was fixed with small arms and medium calibre guns. Two shots of the LTTE fire hit the navy ships but were not effective enough to cause major damage.

Around 7.30 a.m on October 7, the Navy fired at the ship after it was clearly confirmed that it was the ship

 they were looking for.

The ship was in flames for two hours and completely sank by 9.30 a.m. on Sunday morning.

It has been revealed that the ship was transporting 152 mm artillery rounds along with water scooters, jet skies, diver delivery craft outboard motors, radar systems, heavy guns and mortar rounds.

The Navy got the confirmation of these facts as this was the exact ship the Tiger cadre captured in Maldives described. It is now clear that the LTTE was desperately in need of arms and ammunition at this crucial stage in which the Security Forces have launched an operation to capture their last bastion in the Wanni.

If not for this dire need the LTTE would not have headed towards the Sri Lankan territorial waters at a time the Navy was on high alert.

Their intention, however, was to unload these much needed arms and ammunition to small fishing boats and transport them to the Wanni.

As we repeatedly highlighted in this column, this is the time the three Armed Forces have to act with highest degree of commitment as they have now entered into a decisive juncture in their efforts to crack down on terrorism in the Wanni.

Preventing arms and ammunition to the LTTE is one of the key points that may ensure the victory of in the Wanni battle for the Security Forces.

The battles erupting in the Wanni are no longer in favour of the LTTE. The FDLs in the West of Wanni have now turned into a hot bed of battles with Security Forces intensifying their operations further north of Mannar towards Vedithalthivu.

The capture of this territory is vital to add more weight on the victories achieved by the Sri Lanka Navy as such a move can block the flow of arms and ammunition into Wanni through North Western coast too.

The achievements of the Security Forces in Silavathura will be in vain if the LTTE is allowed to operate freely in Vedithalthivu in the North of Mannar as they have already turned the area into a base to smuggle arms into Wanni.

The troops attached to Task Force -1 are now heading towards liberating Vedithalthivu amidst stiff resistance from the LTTE. Another objective is to liberate the civilian population trapped in the areas come under LTTE in the north of Mannar from the Tiger grip.

Apart from this many incidents were reported from Periyathampanai, Thampanai, Kathuruvittankulam, Pokkaravani along the FDL in the West of Omanthai where the SLA has deployed the troops attached to the 57 Division.

Though some media institutions try to downplay the casualty figures of the LTTE in these confrontations, while highlighting the number of casualties of the Security Forces, in reality the LTTE is facing a hard time in these FDLs due to the tactics used by the troops to thwart LTTE attempts to infiltrate Security Forces FDLs.

Though a number of casualties are reported from both sides in many instances, there had been fewer face to face battles in this thick jungle terrains in the West of Omanthai.

Even if the LTTE confronted the Security Forces, the final result always comes with the withdrawal of Tiger cadres further towards Wanni with their strong points being destroyed by the Security Forces. But the Security Forces too facing casualties in the thick mine fields and the improvised explosive devices and booby traps set by the LTTE to prevent the troops entering into their territory.

There are instances when troops lost their limbs due to the anti- personnel mines the LTTE had laid in these jungle terrains. But a larger number of casualties are reported due to the indiscriminate mortar fire directed at the troops.

But many of these with minor injuries report back to their duties after having treatment to their injuries. Therefore, the actual casualty figure of troops who cannot return back to the battle field stands at 200 according to authorised information available with this columnist.

Seven officers and 136 other rankers have been killed in the battles in the West of Omanthai since February this year. The figure has not been scaled down.

Anyone has to admit the fact that there is no war without any casualty as the battle field in the Wanni is completely different from that of the Eastern theatre.

On the other hand, troops were expecting the highest resistance from the LTTE side as the LTTE had no other option other than engage in a do or die battle to defend their territory as Wanni is the only place they have been left with currently.

The other factor that is affecting the Security Forces in the Wanni is that the LTTE has the capability to reinforce their battalions as they face severe resistance from the Security Forces unlike in the East.

On the contrary the LTTE had suffered heavily in the West of Omanthai with 1,475 of their cadres killed and 1,082 injured.

That means more than 2500 of their cadres are now out of battle and it was confirmed through the intelligence reports about crowded hospitals in Kilinochchi and also in Mullaitivu.

The hospital in Kilinochchi, according to sources in Wanni, is used primarily to treat the injured LTTE cadres and common masses have been denied access to these hospitals.

As the battles are reported west of Omanthai the Security Forces in the East of Omanthai too are engaged in a mission to neutralise the Tiger mortar fire directed towards civilian settlements in the Weli Oya sector.

Due to these constant mortar attacks the government school at Ethavetunuweva had to be relocated one kilometre away from the original location to prevent the innocent children becoming victims of indirect mortar fire.

Therefore, on a humanitarian basis troops have to go ahead of their FDLs in the Weli Oya sector to neutralise these LTTE threats. The small group operations carried out by the troops operating in Weli Oya resulted in the deaths of 11 LTTE cadres.

On October 4, the troops attacked a double cab loaded with Tiger cadres who arrived there to launch another mortar attack towards civilian settlement in Weli Oya.

The same type of operations are also carried out in the Jaffna FDLs too with Security Forces taking steps to neutralise the LTTE strong points ahead of the Security Forces FDLs in Kilali, Muhamalai and Nagarkovil FDLs.

A number of battles erupted in the Nagar Kovil sector to push back the LTTE FDL brought close to the Security Forces FDL under the cover of the Ceasefire Agreement. Now the Forces have been able to push the LTTE FDL to its original location with a number of small group operations conducted in Nagar Kovil sector.

Amidst this situation in the Wanni the Sri Lanka Air Force too carried out successful air raids in the Wanni during the past few weeks. Though LTTE kept mum on these air strikes the intelligence sources have now received information confirming that LTTE had suffered heavily in these air raids.

One such air raid on a LTTE training base in Chenmamgundu in Pooneryn on September 25 had resulted in the deaths of 62 Tiger cadres.

Apart from this another successful night air raid on a LTTE jungle base had resulted in the deaths of 28 Tiger cadres.

It has now been revealed that the more than 30 Tiger cadres including a very senior intelligence leader of the Tiger outfit had been killed in the air raid on Vishvamadhu VIP hideout.

With the LTTE getting beatings from land, air and sea the Security Forces now stand well ahead of the LTTE in their resolve to liberate the Wanni population from the Tiger grip.