As last leg of final battle intensifies:

Troops successfully shatter LTTE master plan

Top rung Tiger leaders who might have been waiting for a miracle to rescue them from certain defeat at the hands of the Security Forces in the last terrain held by them once again faced a humiliation this week in their bid to destabilize the Security Forces’ defences of the 58 Division South of Chalai.

The top level Tiger leadership who had accomplished one of their master plans to destabilize the 58 Division defences and recapture Visuamadu and Puthukudiyiruppu, faced this humiliating defeat by losing more than 250 of their well trained cadres at the hands of the Security Force who fought back fearlessly against this latest Tiger attempt.

It was only last Thursday (March 05), that the LTTE employed its first master plan to infiltrate the Security Forces controlled areas in Ampalavanpokkanai after launching a massive assault on the link between the 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva and 55 Division under the command of Brigadier Prasanna Silva.

Troops of the 58 Division detected this Tiger movement in their hundreds on Thursday around 3.30 a.m. when the defence line manned by the 11 Artillery Regiment came under terrorist attack. As the assault was such a massive one, few bunkers manned by the 58 Division were captured by the Tiger cadres at dawn.

As fierce fighting raged in the terrain on Thursday morning Brigadier Shavendra Silva summoned Commando troops to foil the massive counter attack and reestablish the defence line which was damaged in the initial attack. Once 2 Commando Regiment troops under the command of Lt. Colonel Jayantha Balasuriya were inducted into the terrain in the early hours of Thursday, a massive number of Tiger cadres got killed and many wounded. They also ran for cover in the jungle patch in the rear of the 58 Division defence line.

Major breakthrough

After a lengthy battle lasting hours the commando troops were able to effectively foil the counter attack by the LTTE and re-establish nearly 200 to 300 metres long defence line which was breached by the Tiger cadres in the initial attack. It was a major breakthrough by the 58 Division troops as they were able to separate a large number of Tiger cadres who came to launch this massive counter attack.

With the reestablishment of the defences in Ampalavanpokkanai a group of Tiger cadres including top rung leaders Swarnam and Lawrence were trapped in the jungle patch South of Chalai which extends to an area more than 20 square kilometres. It has been revealed that Swarnam and Lawrence had commanded the Tiger cadres to launch Thursday’s attack on the 58 Division defences and later trapped inside a jungle patch in the South of Chalai.

The 58 Division troops engaged in search operations recovered 63 Tiger bodies scattered in the lagoon front and continued to search the jungle patches to trace the Tiger cadres who infiltrated into Security Forces controlled areas. It is believed that the LTTE had lost nearly 100 cadres during Thursday’s counter attack as troops could collect nearly 80 T-56 weapons from the area.

After this initial success the 58 Division continued to monitor the movements of the Tiger cadres that infiltrated into the jungle patch whilst conducting cordon and search operations in the jungle deploying commando troops.

Amidst these search operations the LTTE also made few other attempts on Friday and Saturday to infiltrate into the Security Forces controlled areas by sending some explosive laden vehicles into the Security Forces defences.

Infiltration

It was on Saturday around 10 p.m. that the troops monitoring the movements of the Tiger cadres which infiltrated into the jungle patch, through the UAV, detected a group of nearly 50 Tiger cadres moving closer to the lagoon front. But there were no indication from which direction they had infiltrated into that area.

But they were not engaged in the first detection and confined into an open terrain in the lagoon front.

During that period there had been lot of psy-ops by the LTTE indicating that they would send suicide vehicles and suicide cadres into the battle front but none of these materialized.

Troops observing the movement also detected groups of other Tiger cadres moving towards the lagoon front. But there were no indication whether they were going to breach the Security Forces’ defences either to rescue their cadres trapped inside the jungle patch or to induct more cadres into Security Forces’ controlled areas. It was around 5 am on Sunday that the 58 Division directed the first artillery attack on LTTE cadres who were moving in open terrain. Troops made the initial break dispersing the large number of Tiger cadres moving in one direction with the objective of achieving a single goal.

It was obvious that the LTTE wanted to create bridge between Puthumattalan and the mainland area held by the 58 Division parallel to the safe zone declared by the Security Forces.

For that LTTE wanted to capture the islets in the South of Chalai and the land area in the West of the lagoon as they cannot operate in coastal stretch once the Security Forces control the areas West of it.

With the launch of artillery attack, the Tiger cadres could not continue with its master plan as they were confronted by the 58 Division troops detecting their movement through the UAV. Many of them were killed while crossing the lagoon and they were driven towards the beach front.

This fierce battle continued till mid noon as the number of Tiger cadres infiltrated into the jungle patch was massive. Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka took immediate measures to induct Special Forces troops into the jungle patch in search of Tiger cadres that infiltrated into the area. It was around 2 p.m when the Special Forces were inducted into the area.

Director Operations Brigadier Udaya Perera and Director Military Intelligence Brigadier Amal Karunaskera were also with the Army Commander who was personally monitoring the situation from the operations room at the Army Headquarters.

After a day long battle 58 Division troops and the Special Forces troops recovered 86 Tiger bodies. Later they found nearly 20 to 30 bodies buried inside the jungle close to the lagoon. Scores of other Tiger bodies were found floating in the lagoon.

That was the first occasion in the Wanni liberation operation such a massive number of Tiger bodies and their personnel weapons were recovered in a single day’s battle.

The 58 Division troops achieved this success losing a minimum number of its men. Nearly 40 troops sacrificed their lives during this battle and over 100 soldiers were injured but many of them were in the P 3 category.

It is believed that over 90 per cent of the Tiger cadres who came to launch this attack were either killed, injured or disabled by the Security Forces who valiantly fought back to foil their attempt to recapture the areas in Puthukudiyiruppu and Visuamadu The most significant point is that LTTE had lost its core fighting strength as they deployed cadres from the Radha and Charles Anthony Brigades to launch these attacks. At a time the LTTE is facing a severe shortage of fighting cadres, losing such a massive number of well trained cadres is a severe blow to the outfit as they are waging their final battle with the Security Forces.

On the other hand the Security Forces managed to kill such a massive number of the Tiger cadres as the LTTE made a desperate attempt to breach the Security Forces defences after regrouping their cadres. The number of Tiger cadres killed in this battle is similar to the number of cadres that got killed in the week long battle.

The other crucial point is that the Security Forces have not lost a single inch of land to the LTTE during this massive counter attack in which the LTTE tried their utmost to create massive defence line covering Puthukudiyiruppu and Visuamadu after breaching Security Forces’ defences in Ampalavanpokkanai.

It has been revealed that Bhanu and Theepan were ready to launch another attack from the rear of the Security Forces defences in Visuamadu if they were successful in their effort to induct cadres into Security Forces held area.

But troops managed to shatter the master plan of the LTTE to take the upper hand in the last leg of the final battle.

The Military are yet to learn the destiny of Swarnam and Lawrence who were trapped inside the jungle following their initial counter attack on Thursday (March 05). During the battle interrupts radio of the LTTE confirmed that Lawrence was pleading for support to get out of that battle.

Amidst this scenario the Security Forces have observed that the LTTE had held a massive funeral in Puthumattalan area with the participation of all high ranking leaders on Tuesday and a large number of civilians. But there is no confirmation about whose funeral this was.

Intelligence officials who are closely monitoring the conversations of the Tiger leaders have not heard of either Swarnam or Lawrence speaking over their radio transmissions. Therefore, there is strong belief that Lawrence was killed during the battle. Amidst LTTE suffering these severe blows, the Security Forces are also facing a disadvantageous situation due to the infiltration of Tiger cadres into the Forces’ controlled areas.

It would become a big nuisance for the Security Forces as the possibilities are very high of these cadres launching sudden attacks on the troops operating on the front lines or the high ranking military officials moving into the cleared areas and military convoys taking troops going on leave and returning to their duties.

The gun positions of the Security Forces also could come under threat in such a scenario. This fact was very clearly proven on Wednesday when an artillery gun position supporting the 58 Division came under Tiger attack in the early hours of Wednesday. Three 122 mm artillery guns were destroyed by these infiltrators into the Visuamadu area.

However, troops after a fierce battle were able to kill four Tiger cadres who infiltrated into the area of the gun position without allowing them to destroy the ammo dump.

Search operations

Under these circumstances the Security Forces will have to deploy a larger strength to conduct search and clear operations in the cleared areas while committing a considerable strength to strengthen the security of the military installations and gun positions.

The LTTE is also expecting such a commitment of troops to protect military installations and gun positions at this decisive juncture as they cannot afford the pressure the military is exerting on them in this final leg of the battle.

The LTTE to a certain extent succeeded in its counter attack launched on February 01, in the south of Puthukudiyiruppu and West of Nanthikadal lagoon as the Security Forces had to deploy a considerable number of troops for search operations.

But at this stage the LTTE cannot change the ground situation as Security Forces have already conquered into their territory leaving only 35 square kilometres under Tiger control. On the other hand the LTTE had to struggle with two issues to keep the civilians under their arrest whilst fighting with the Security Forces.

The 58 Division whilst engaged in countering the massive Tiger attack in the North of Puthukudiyiruppu has also been able to capture Puthukudiyiruppu hospital on Tuesday evening.

With the capture of the East of Puthukudiyiruppu the LTTE had shifted all its operations rooms to the South of Puthumattalan taking cover behind the civilians.

The Task Force VIII under the command of Colonel G.V. Ravipriya is also heading towards the Puthukudiyiruppu East after consolidating their positions in the West of Nanthikadal lagoon and heading towards the last terrain of the LTTE where LTTE had taken refuge with the civilian population.

The LTTE is forcibly keeping these innocent civilians to be deployed in their defences after giving them weapon training. Military intelligence confirmed that the LTTE is in the process of giving weapon training to another 800 civilians entrapped there. That means the LTTE is not willing to give up the battle even at this stage.

The most challenging situation for the Security Forces at this moment is that they have to fight with a batch of suicide cadres who have been forced by the LTTE leadership into a do or die battle. Although these remaining cadres are not wearing suicide kits or trained as suicide cadres the LTTE leadership had forced them to launch suicide missions as they believe that they had reached a point of no return.

Although the LTTE as ruthless terror outfit can force each and every cadre to die in the battle, as there is no escape from their defeat unless they give up arms, the Security Forces cannot adopt this attitude to the troops operating in the battle front as they are responsible for each and every soldier sacrificing their lives in the battlefront. Therefore, troops will have to march along a very sensitive path whilst saving the lives of the innocent civilians to achieve their final victory.