Wanni liberation enters most crucial stage

All guns are now directed towards the centre of Kilinochchi as troops have already marched into its doorstep taking the outer periphery of this highly defended town which stretches from Iranamadu area within the 60 mm and 80 mm mortar range of the Security Forces. They are getting ready to assault the inner areas of Kilinochchi.

Civilians who were living in the southern part of Kilinochchi and Iranamadu have already moved out of the area towards Vishvamadu and Puthukuduiruppu while other civilians in the northern part of Kilinochchi too are busy abandoning the town leaving the battle only to the LTTE while the Air Force was taking LTTE military, logistic and training facilities in Kilinochchi.

By the time this column went to print, troops were poised to launch another major assault to push their defences further northward from the Akkarayankulam - Murikandy road that links to the A-9 road close to the famous Murikandy Hindu temple whilst troops attached to the 572 and 573 Brigades are operating close to the A-9 road keeping it within their sight.

Therefore, the stretch of the A-9 road from Mankulam to Murikandi is not accessible to the LTTE as the Security Forces are keeping control of the A-9 road even without capturing the road at any location, marking this stretch of A-9 road an area where both the LTTE and the Security Forces are present.

It was during these advances towards the A-9 road that troops attached to 7 Sri Lanka Light Infantry battalion under the command of Lt.Colonel Ranjith Abeyratne came across an LTTE airstrip in Panikkankulam located seven Kilometres North West of Mankulam on Tuesday afternoon.

Apparently the LTTE had used this airstrip for their training purposes as it is equipped with taxiways and parking areas.

However, troops conducting search operations in the area have also found a wreckage of a double cab in this vicinity probably used by a LTTE leader.

The capture of the 500 meters long and 50 meters wide airstrip is a major victory for the Security Forces as this is the first occasion the Security Forces have come across this type of airstrip though they have observed such facilities through satellite images and through video clippings of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

The Sri Lanka Air Force claims that they have detected this airstrip a long time ago and had bombed this area on several occasions but nothing had been detected recently. Ground troops also confirm that there are signs the area had been bombed on several occasions.

The camouflaged double cab which was in the vicinity has been destroyed in such an attack the ground troops believe.

Apart from this the Security Forces also have moved into Kokavil area where the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation had its transmission tower. One may recall the heroic deeds of Lt. Aladeniya who sacrificed his life killing a large number of Tiger cadres who came to blast this tower.

With those advances by the 57 Division towards the North, the capture of Kilinochchi is now only a matter of time for the Security Forces who had marched all the way from their original Forward Defence Line located almost hugging the Vavuniya Mannar road in February 2007, towards three Kilometres south of Kilinochchi border.

With another few vital moves from Murikandi and Akkarayankulam troops are poised to pass the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu district border in the battlefront in the 57 Division area and reach the border of Kilinochchi town from Iranamadu area from A-9 road.

But to fully capture Kilinochchi town troops have to clear seven and a half Kilometres along the A-9 road.

It was in this backdrop the Security Forces have detected yet another earth bund which has been constructed by the LTTE in Thirumurikandi area.

According to ground troops the LTTE had constructed this earth bund from Akkarayan Murikkandi road to North West direction to cover the Kilinochchi front from another direction.

Troops have observed this bund once they were advancing ahead of the Akkarayan Murikkandi road and confronted this earth bund three kilometres west of A-9 road towards Akkarayan.

This newly detected earth bund stretches four kilometres towards the North West direction linking Thirumurikandi and Puttuvettuvan creating another flank covering the Kilinochchi town from the West of A-9 road creating yet another defence line in the event the Security Forces cross the huge earth bund in Akkarayankulam west and east.

The Security Forces attached to the 57 Division changed their axis towards Kilinochchi once they observed the LTTE was constructing the huge earth bund from Akkarayankulam East to Iranamadu. The LTTE has constructed this stretch of earth bund once confronting with the Security Forces east of Akkarayankulam.

Therefore, the time frame to capture Kilinochchi will be decided by the LTTE’s capability to defend this area with their ability to delay the troops’ advance with the construction of earth bunds of this nature and their ability to survive with their available man power and the fire power.

The vital point here is that they are now losing the cover of the of the civilians the most powerful defence line the LTTE had for the past three decades for their survival.

Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka has already given the signal that Kilinochchi would be under attack this week with the pull out of all UN, NGOs and INGO representatives from Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

With the ultimatum given by the Government, all aid workers representing INGOs except for their local Tamil workers who had been denied access to cleared areas along with their foreign representatives due non-issuance of travel passes to them by the LTTE, arrived in Vavuniya to begin their humanitarian missions.

With these developments, the environment has already created for pitched battles in the outskirts and inside of Kilinochchi in the coming days.

For this the Army has already made ground preparations by injecting additional troops into the Kilinochchi battle-front with the formation of a 574 Brigade under the command of Lt. Colonel Senaka Wijesuriya who was the Commanding Officer to the 11 Sri Lanka Light Infantry battalion now operating under the 58 Division.

The 574 Brigade commenced functioning on Wednesday in the 57 Division front with 7 and 10 Sri Lanka Light Infantry battalions under the command of Lt. Colonel Ranjith Abeyratne, and Lt. Colonel Jagath Kodithuwakku respectively and the 16 Sinha Regiment battalion, under the command of Major Dhammika Dissanayaka functioning under it.

In addition to the formation of this new Brigade the Army headquarters too is preparing the groundwork for the formation of another offensive Division to be added to the battlefront soon to enhance the military pressure on the LTTE.
 

The area of deployment of this offensive Division will be decided by the Army Commander very soon with developments taking place in the battlefront. The deployment of another offensive division would be a severe blow to the LTTE, as they cannot cope up with the pressure, from the four offensive Divisions now operating in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu fronts, even at present.

Facing such an immense pressure will be a Herculean task for the LTTE as they are losing at least ten cadres a day in all three main battlefronts. The most important factor is that they are now losing their well trained cadres including form the Charles Anthony Brigade and Imran Pandyan cadres.

Replacing these well trained cadres is a big problem for the LTTE at this juncture as they no longer have the capability to recruit youth as civilians are fast distancing themselves from the LTTE.

Though they can turn nearly 200,000 civilian population, as all of them except small children under 12 years age and elderly people have been given basic weapon training by the LTTE, that won’t be an effective option as they cannot carry out the same task undertaken by the well trained cadres.

According to ground troops, even the well trained cadres cannot face the firepower of the Security Forces as Tiger cadres in large numbers are getting killed due to indirect fire of the Security Forces. Currently Theepan who is commanding the battle in Kilinochchi has to call more reinforcements from Muhamalai front to face the advancing troops on a daily basis.

It is a question how long the LTTE can defend Kilinochchi by bringing reinforcements from the Muhamalai front as the Army is not thinning out troops either from Jaffna, from the East or from the down South in Yala as expected by the LTTE.

The Army is getting enough recruits to pump into the battle front after completing their training period.

Security Forces have detected a number of attempts by the LTTE to infiltrate the Jaffna peninsula to create a chaotic situation in Jaffna to snare more troops to Jaffna in their bid to commit their cadres to Kilinochchi.

As the LTTE is making these desperate attempts to defend Kilinochchi they are making the same type of effort to block the troops advancing from the West of Akkarayankulam towards Pooneryn direction as troops attached to the 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva have opened the path for the troops to advance in this direction with the capture of three Kilometre stretch of the huge earth bund in Karambankulam area.

Troops attached to the 10 Sri Lanka Light Infantry Battalion, 12 and 6 Gemunu Watch battalions advanced from this earth bund and captured the Nachchikukuda Akkarayan road which was the main access road the LTTE had towards Nachchikuda from Kilinochchi direction.

Fierce battles erupted on this stretch of the road on Monday as the LTTE mounted counter attacks to regain control of this road with a large number of reinforcements shifting from the Muhamalai front and Akkarayankulam area.

Troops captured 10 Tiger bodies during these attacks as the LTTE suffered heavy casualties during these confrontations. Intercepted radio transmissions have confirmed that 32 of their cadres have been killed during these confrontations and troops observed 16 bodies strewn on the ground ahead of their defences.

But the LTTE could not push back the troops holding this section of the road despite their huge efforts making use of their manpower and firepower. Troops attached to 58 Division continued to expand the area they are controlling on the huge earth bund from in the East of Vannarikulam with the 10 Gajaba Regiment capturing another 600 meters stretch of the earth bund while the 9 Gemunu Watch battalion capturing another vital section of the earth bund.

During the past six days 67 Tiger cadres have been killed in the 58 Division area with 43 names announced by the LTTE on Monday alone.

With the loss of this earth bund the LTTE is not in a position to control the troops’ advance further northwards fearing that they would advance towards Pooneryn easily.

With the loss of the Akkarayan Nachchikuda road, the LTTE has to come a long way to reach Nachchikuda through a road located some four to five Kilometres north of Akkarayankulam road.

However, the LTTE is not in a position use that supply route too as troops are controlling LTTE movements along this route too with the use of the artillery and mortar.

In this backdrop it seems that the LTTE is strengthening their positions in Nachchikuda the last Sea Tiger base located north of Mulangavil after shifting their long range artillery guns in Pooneryn towards Nachchikuda. The LTTE is aware that losing Nachchikuda is the end of their sea operations from the South Indian side.

In the meantime the 59 Division under the command of Brigadier Nandana Udawatta moving towards Mullaitivu direction is now dominating the southern part of the Nayaru lagoon and confronting the LTTE in a huge open area in Thannimurippukulam .

Therefore, the battle in the Wanni liberation operation is set to enter its most crucial stage in the next few days to decide the future of the LTTE.

Prabhakaran should decide whether he can continue fighting - Army Commander

LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran should decide whether he should continue this war preying on the remaining cadres and creating Mahaveer cemeteries in memory of their cadres or to give up his so-called Eelam war, once he is defeated in the Kilinochchi battle losing another 2,000 cadres as they are losing at least 20 cadres a day in the battlefronts in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

The LTTE should realise the fact they cannot switch on to jungle operations like in the past to continue their terror acts as the Security Forces have not left any room for them to operate in jungles once again as troops are dominating all the jungle patches in Wanni and in the East.

The LTTE developed as a conventional force at a time Sri Lanka was having a ceremonial Army with a 15,000 strength. Today we have become much stronger than we were earlier and are capable of handling any situation. So the LTTE should take into consideration all these facts into account when they take any decision regarding their future.