LTTE terrorises civilians as certain defeat looms in last bastion

Ranil WIJAYAPALA]

The situation in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, the narrow stretch of land where the LTTE has been entrapped along with a 200,000 civilian population is now becoming more sensitive with the Tiger outfit making desperate attempts to defend themselves from the pending definite defeat at the hands of the Security Forces.

False propaganda has become the main tool of the LTTE especially aiming to mislead the civilian population entrapped in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts who have turned out to be their saviour at this moment.

Intelligence reports indicate that the LTTE has been engaged in an intense campaign to convince the civilians that troops have been withdrawn from Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu battlefront.

The most aggressive campaign is going on at the Mannar front where troops attached to the 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva who has already entered Kilinochchi district passing the Mannar- Kilinochchi boundary, as it has become the northernmost front threatening the LTTE.

According to information the LTTE is spreading wild rumours among the Tamil community saying that the troops have withdrawn from the Nachchikuda front towards Illuppaikadavai. That is to give the impression that they were taking the upper hand of the battlefront on the Kilinochchi front.

Their intention is to further tighten the grip on the civilian population living in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts who are now under immense pressure.

However, the LTTE cannot continue with this false propaganda to mislead the civilians as battlefront would be reaching their doorstep within the next few days.

Therefore, the LTTE won’t be able to keep these civilians under their command as the day is not so far when the civilians would stand against the LTTE to seek refuge in Government controlled areas.

The Government has already made arrangements to receive these civilians fleeing uncleared areas in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts as intense fighting is expected to erupt in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu in coming weeks.

These civilians have already commenced fleeing the Tiger grip in groups and are expected to increase in the coming weeks as intense fighting is expected to erupt in the civilian populated areas in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts as the areas dominated by the LTTE are rapidly shrinking with the advancement of the troops into the Tiger heartland.

According to civilians fleeing the Tiger grip, they are undergoing severe hardships at the hands of the LTTE as their movements have been severely restricted by the Tiger cadres to keep them as a shield to act as a cover from the advancing troops.

Amidst all these challenges the troops attached to the 58 Division under the command Brigadier Shavendra Silva are now dominating a considerable area in the Kilinochchi district with the capture of Mulangavil, the second important administrative hub of the LTTE in the district.

The LTTE is contemplating what had transpired in Mulangavil for them to lose this administrative base in such a rapid move by the Security Forces.

The biggest problem they are facing now is that they are not aware from which direction the Security Forces are advancing into the heart of the Kilinochchi district.

The leadership of the LTTE is at a loss to trace the whereabouts of the troops as they have to confront the troops from various directions in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu west of A-9 road.

The LTTE seems to have learnt lessons from Mulangavil, as the intercepted LTTE communications confirm that the Tiger outfit is still regretting the loss of Mulangavil and thinks they could have kept it under their control without losing it to the Security Forces.

What is most disheartening is that it has opened the gateways to the heart of Kilinochchi with the troops approaching Kilinochchi town from the Eastern flank of the 58 Division leaving only 15 to 18 Kilometres to go into the city centre of Kilinochchi, making the time frame given by the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to reach Kilinochchi a more realistic one.

But the most worrying factor is not the LTTE strategies to face the impending defeat, but the efforts taken by certain disgruntled elements in the South to the cripple the efforts of the Security Forces to see an end to the ongoing battles in the North.

It is sad to note that while the Government is making its full effort to defeat the LTTE militarily to safeguard the basic human rights of the Tamil community, another section of politicians are trying to sabotage the process. The damage caused through malicious and misleading statements belittling the achievements of the Security Forces, by opposition politicians engaged in political campaigns for the North Central and the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council election campaigns, is immense.

What is most disheartening is that these statements are coming from a serviceman who retired from the Sri Lanka Army keeping his good name with the Army. It is regrettable that these discouraging words are coming from an ex-Security Forces person who had fought against the same terror outfit a decade back with the same objective of eradicating terrorism from the Sri Lankan soil.

They should realise the fact that the media and the Security Forces have nothing to achieve by spreading lies about military achievements in the North. If Security Forces are exaggerating their military achievements they cannot take journalists to the area they are boasting about.

The ground reality is that these disgruntled politicians are reluctant to accept the bitter truth that the LTTE is getting beaten at the hands of the Security Forces, which they could not achieve during their time.

Though these politicians are making these statements to gain petty political advantages at the forthcoming elections taking the lives of the Security Forces and the civilians to ransom, the extent of damage they are creating to the nation is vast, as the entire nation is at a crossroads of solving its biggest problem through military means after reaching highest momentum against the LTTE in the 25 years long conflict. Therefore, these politicians should be extremely careful when commenting on military matters since they are causing massive damage to the Security Forces at this decisive point of time.

As these disgruntled politicians are making discouraging remarks under the cover of the forthcoming elections the Security Forces are going ahead with the task of liberating the North from the iron grip of the LTTE.

With the capture of the Mulangavil, the LTTE has strengthened their presence in Nachchikuda the next township on the A-32 road. Fierce fighting continued in Nachchikuda this week with the LTTE increasing its firepower to thwart the advance of troops into Nachchikuda, located north of Mulangavil.

To defend this area the LTTE has created a massive earth bunt stretching for more than 20 Kilometres surrounding Nachchikuda. Fierce fighting erupted south of Nachchikuda on Sunday in the attempts by the 11 Sri Lanka Light Infantry troops to capture a part of this earth bunt.

They were faced with stiff resistance from the LTTE with their enhanced fire power after fitting a number of 12.7 mm guns and some Light Machine Guns. During this confrontation more than 20 Tiger cadres were reportedly killed and another 30 cadres were injured. The Security Forces too lost the lives of five soldiers and dozens including officers sustained injuries.

The LTTE has a number of reasons to increase their presence in Nachchikuda. First they want to stop the advancement of the troops further northwards towards Pooneryn to remove their military assets belonging to the Sea Tigers.

On the other hand the Nachchikuda is the last area where the LTTE can take cover of thinly grown jungle, as the entire area northward towards Pooneryn and Kilaly is a huge open area with shrubs. Therefore, the fall of Nachchikuda in the North Western coast will mark the fall of the entire North Western coast as the possibilities are very low for the LTTE to hold the ground after the fall of Nachchikuda.

The troops attached to 58 Division are poised to capture more important locations in the Kilinochchi district within the next few days killing at least 10 Tiger cadres a day. The intention of the troops is to cripple the manpower of the LTTE before entering the final battle in Kilinochchi.

Meanwhile troops attached to the 57 Division operating on the western flank of the Mullaitivu district west of A-9 road were poised to capture Thunukkai the most important township in the western flank of the Mullaitivu district.

The troops attached to the 57 Division under the command of Major General Jagath Dias made a strategic move last week after 572 troops under the command of Lt. Colonel Senerath Bandara captured Kalvilan a village located some two kilometres South of Thunukkai. That was the turning point in the fall of Thunukkai considered one of the most important administrative bases in the Wanni.

The 572 Brigade fought tirelessly to achieve this task for nearly three months after capturing Periyamadu the last township they found on this jungle terrain.

They faced stiff resistance from the LTTE as they advanced into the general area of Kalvilan and had to face the challenge of natural barriers, open terrains and LTTE created earth bunts to stop the advance of the troops.

A number of soldiers had to sacrifice their lives and limbs while killing hundreds of well trained Tiger cadres who had been deployed on the LTTE front line with Theepan taking control of the battlefront last month.

However, the capture of Thunukkai will take the troops further close to Kilinochchi the heart of the LTTE from another front giving the Security Forces yet another advantage against the LTTE to forge the final battle.

The LTTE is losing the connection between the North Western coast and Mullaitivu via Mankulam with the fall of Thunukkai as Mankulam - Mallavi- Thunukkai - Vellankulam have been taken over by the Security Forces from various locations.

With the capture of Vellankulam troops disconnected the supply route linking to Thunukkai from the East of Vellankulam. And the capture of Thunukkai also marks the isolation of Mallavi the other hideout of the LTTE leader Prabhakaran on the western flank of the Mullaitivu district.

The troops attached to the 57 Division were poised to capture this Thunukkai town as the troops attached to the 59 Division under the command of Brigadier Nandana Udawatta marked yet another milestone on the Mullaitivu battlefront after capturing Jeevan Base one of the important LTTE training bases located in the Mullaitivu district south of Nayaru.

It was after a few days of fighting that troops attached to the 14 Vijayaba Infantry Regiment under the command of Major Upul Weerakoon captured this LTTE training base which had the capacity to train at least 100 Tiger cadres at once, on Saturday evening.

By this time the 59 Division troops captured a number of LTTE bases in the Weli Oya front after commencing offensive operations in January this year. It was on March 01, 2008 they came across Alpha -I Base in the North of Kiribbanvewa by the troops attached to 11 Gemunu Watch under the command of Lt. Colonel Priyanka Fernando.

On May 19, 7 Gemunu Watch under the command of Lt. Col. Priyantha Perera captured Kamal Base. After that the troops attached to the 59 Division captured Munnagam Base on May 29, Michael Base on July 22 and another two LTTE camps on July 22 and 23 respectively. They came across some Tiger camps on August 03, August 04, August 06 and August 14 including the bases Pasargi and Kuttawan.

With the advance of troops further towards Mullaitivu, troops attached to the 59 Division have now reached a massive open terrain south of Nayaru.

Major battles are expected to erupt in this terrain as the LTTE can make use of their remaining firepower at least to delay the advance of troops into Mullaitivu. Fierce battles are also expected to erupt in Thannimurippukulam as the troops are also poised to capture the only source of water south of Nedunkerni.

So with those developments ground troops with the immense support received from the Sri Lanka Air Force are expecting to reach the final stage of the war in the Northern battlefront with the shifting of the battlefront towards more sensitive areas where the LTTE is keeping innocent civilians as a shield.