All barriers cleared for troops to move into Kilinochchi

TN falls silent after MP Basil Rajapaksa’s visit

Troops capture Tiger earth bunds

Tiger air raid causes no major damage

Task Force III to assail Tigers from another direction

If there were any barriers for the troops, whether it was political pressure, international pressure or ground obstacles the situation has now been created for them to reach their objective- the defeat of the LTTE in their strongholds in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, after a long time has come out to express his views to the media, at least through his Political Chief Nadesan to tell the world about his existence and to praise Tamil Nadu politicians who were engaged in a futile exercise to exert pressure on the Central Government of India, to halt the military thrust on the LTTE in Sri Lanka.

The significant fact that emerged this week was that all cries by the Tamil Nadu politicians went silent soon after the visit of Senior Presidential Advisor and MP Basil Rajapaksa’s visit to India to brief the Indian Government about the present status of the Tamil civilians entrapped in Wanni and the steps taken by the Government to fulfil their basic needs.

Many of the Tamil Nadu politicians including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Karunanidhi changed the stance over the Sri Lankan situation following this high profile visit by Presidential Advisor MP Rajapaksa to India and his discussions with Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The silencing of the Indian factor after effectively convincing them of the true picture of the Sri Lankan situation, though the situation had no major effect on the military operations conducted by the Security Forces, was a tower of strength for the troops now engaged in the military operations in Wanni since there was an ambiguity on their part about the future of the military operations.

However, the entire international community, understood the fact that the agitation campaigns by the Tamil Nadu politicians who were sympathetic towards the LTTE, in the guise of expressing their solidarity with the Tamil civilians, was one of the last options tried by the LTTE to stop their humiliating defeat in face of the military thrust on them in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

That was why the Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran himself had to come out with a statement that he was not hiding inside bunkers but ‘moving among the Tamil civilians’ in defending his illusionary Tamil homeland from Government Forces.

The end note of his statement was that he wanted to tell that the he had not distanced himself from the Tamil civilians entrapped in Wanni, as it was the only way that he could divert the sympathy of Tamil Nadu towards him. If there are no civilians in Wanni he cannot garner at least this type of support from Tamil Nadu.

That is why he is trying to keep these nearly 200,000 Tamil civilians under his control, to try his best to have the world sympathy towards the LTTE till the last moment of his defeat, despite the harrowing experience the civilian population is undergoing in Wanni under the current bad weather conditions.

Under these circumstances the Tiger leader is compelled to come out of his hideout; it is no secret that all his hideouts are under threat - he has to mingle with the civilians and the ground level cadres since he had lost all his comrades who were there to carry out his message to the international community.

The only propaganda arm he is now having is the MPs of the Tamil National Alliance, as almost all the countries have listed the LTTE as terror organisation barring them from engaging in open campaigns in support of the LTTE.

After their failed attempt to divert Indian support to stop the military thrust on them in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, the Tiger outfit resorted to the most popular tactic to draw attention towards them once again by deploying their light aircraft to launch air raids.

It was on Tuesday around 10.35 p.m. that one Tiger light aircraft dropped three bombs into the Sri Lanka Army Area Headquarters in Thalladi Mannar causing minor damage to the camp site and injuring three soldiers who were in the open area inside the camp. None of the military equipment inside Thalladi camp was damaged in the air raid though the LTTE tried their best to target long range artillery or Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers, as they mentioned in the pro-LTTE Tamilnet website.

A few minutes after the Mannar air raid the ground troops operating in Thunukkai and Mallavi reported that they heard the sound of the light aircraft returning towards Iranamadu direction.

However, there was no such indication on SLAF radars about such air movement, according to Air Force.

However, the electricity supplies were disconnected in Colombo city and suburbs as the radars in Palavi detected another light aircraft heading towards Colombo. By this time Kfir fighter jets and F-7 interceptors were airborne from Katunayake and Colombo was ready with its anti aircraft guns.

From its first detection, it had disappeared from the radar screen and however, it had come towards Colombo from the sea side and entered in to land from the edge of the Colombo harbour.

The powerful cameras installed at the Colombo harbour had videoed the movements of this aircraft which was flying at a low altitude so that radars cannot easily detect it and troops on the ground could not direct their anti aircraft guns towards it as it was flying so low.

The anti aircraft guns are installed to direct towards high flying objects and it is difficult to manoeuvre these guns to target low flying objects.

The sky in Colombo city turned into a fireworks display as air defence systems installed at all vital installations were activated once the aircraft was heading towards Colombo city.

The aircraft which came from sea side turned towards the Kelanitissa power station from the edge of the Colombo harbour dropped two bombs into the power station amidst firing directed at it from various locations from the Colombo harbour, World Trade Centre and all other vital installations in Colombo.

A huge smoke emanated from the Kelanitissa power station soon after the air raid that caused minor damages to the FIAT (Gas Turbine 7) and the Combined Cycle Power plant. Fire fighting vehicles were rushed to the scene soon and the situation was brought under control ten minutes after the incident.

The LTTE light aircraft which dropped two bombs into the Kelanitissa power station took its return path from the landside to a certain extent and then to the sea route and had returned to uncleared areas in the north of Mannar.

However, the F-7 interceptors which were airborne from Katunayake could not take the target due to technical reasons. According to experts the LTTE aircraft had arrived towards Colombo covering engines with armour plates so that the heat seeking missile system could not lock the target.

To release the missile the missile system has to lock the target. However, the target has not been locked due to the fact the Tiger aircraft had reportedly covered its engines with heavy armour plates.

It is also believed that it was due to these heavy armour plates the Tiger aircraft had taken more than one hour to reach towards Colombo and return to either Iranamadu or Mullaitivu after dropping two bombs into the Kelanitissa power station.

The Kfir fighter jets which were flying at 3,000 feet also could not take the target as it was flying so low.

Though, the LTTE could not cause major damage through their air raid, the seventh since April 2007, once again it managed to draw the attention of the media worldwide.

That is the need of the day for the LTTE at this desperate moment.

But all these Tiger attempts to take the upper hand in the present security situation, were foiled by the Security Forces within the past few days clearing all the barriers in their advance towards the centre of Kilinochchi.

The Task Force -I or the famously known 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva made steady progress within the past few days capturing many Tiger installations in the Western edge of the Kilinochchi district.

Their moves have become significant by yesterday as they are now in control upto the 12th Mile Post on the Mannar Pooneryn A-32 road only short of 15 Kilometres to reach vital Pooneryn which could be linked to Jaffna peninsula via Pooneryn Sangupiddy jetty.

The Task Force -I troops were in full control of the Nachchikuda fishing village which was strongly defended by the LTTE for the past few months constructing a huge earth bund in the South of it. This earth bund which has been constructed south of Nachchikuda extends upto east of Akkarayankulam.

The troops of the Task Force I who first breached this earth bund from Karamabakulam after a fierce battle with the LTTE have now advanced more than six kilometres from this earth bund to the North.

Once they expanded their control over the earth bund towards Pandiveddikulam to the west and Vannerikulam to the East LTTE cadres strongly resisted the troops when troops were advancing towards Jeyapuram village located in the west of Pandiveddikulam.

Amidst resistance troops ignored the LTTE presence in Jeyapuram village and advanced further northwards and hit the A-32 road 10 Km north of Nachchikuda. With the capture of the A-32 road troops advanced to the north and south on the A-32 road.

It was on Tuesday evening the troops took control of the 12th Mile Post and 16th Mile Post on the A-32 road. With the capture of the four way junction at the 16th Mile Post troops severed supply routes to Nachchikuda and towards Vallaipadu the last LTTE unloading point for supplies coming from the South Indian side.

With this move the Tiger cadres operating in Jeyapuram, having observed they have been surrounded from all directions started to vacate this huge settlement with a large number of houses. It had been strongly held by the LTTE for various purposes.

Until Wednesday many senior level cadres were operating in the Jeyapuram village, but they started to vacate the village with troops advancing towards it from the Manaiyankulam-Nachchikuda road. By Wednesday 1 p.m. troops took full control of the Jeyapuram village marking a major breakthrough.

As troops captured the Jeyapuram village, another section of troops from the Task Force -I launched a massive assault on more than 15 km long LTTE defence line in Nachchikuda.

By Wednesday evening Task Force I troops fully captured the LTTE defence line in Nachchikuda and were in the process of capturing the Nachchikuda fishing village, the last fishing village west of Kilinochchi on the Mannar-Pooneryn road.

With the capture of Nachchikuda the LTTE is facing severe difficulties in their logistics movements centred around Vallaipadu. Commando troops are posing a major threat to the LTTE cadres operating there on a frequent basis targeting their vehicles and other logistics movements.

Whilst Task Force I troops captured the LTTE defence line in Nachchikuda the troops attached to the 571 Brigade under the command of Colonel G.V. Ravipriya managed to capture the Akkarayankulam tank bund area having linked to the 572 troops operating in the East of Akkarayankulam some 600 metres north of the tank bund.

With the capture of this tank bund troops are now dominating the entire earth bund created by the LTTE from Nachchikuda to East of Akkarayankulam as illustrated in the map.

By yesterday afternoon troops of the 571 Brigade were in the process of entering the Akkarayan village spread more than seven Square Kilometres in the southwest of Kilinochchi.

Once the Akkarayan village is captured the LTTE will lose its access to Kilinochchi town from the Western flank.

The Tigers will lose the grip they are now having south of Kilinochchi as troops of the 572 Brigade have captured a huge extent of the earth bund the LTTE has constructed from Akkarayan East to Iranamadu. The Wanni battle is due to enter a crucial phase in the coming days as troops are poised to launch their thrust on the LTTE from another front with the formation of the Task Force -III to be deployed from another direction.

Things are moving so fast to cover up the Western coast depriving the LTTE of their links with South India to depend on their supplies whilst taking steps to serve the civilian population with essential items till they are freed from the clutches of the LTTE.