Air Force smashes key LTTE camp

Top LTTE leader feared killed

By Tissa Ravindra Perera
The Air Force yesterday destroyed a key LTTE camp in the Vishvamdu in the Mullaithivu district with intelligence sources claiming that a top leader of the terrorist group killed.

Three Mig 27 and three Kfir fighter air craft carried out the attack at the LTTE camp yesterday at 6.30 in the morning.

Air Force Commander, Air Marshal Roshan Gunethilake said that the location had been identified as a meeting place for top Tiger leaders. He added that LTTE leader Prabhakaran is also known to be a frequent visitor to the base.

Pilots who carried out the operation claimed that the Vishvamadu camp was destroyed by the precision air strike. They also informed that anti aircraft guns were used in the vicinity of location at the time of the attack. Meanwhile military intelligence sources claim that there are credible reasons to believe that Prabhakaran’s son was in the camp when the air force struck. They claim that the operation was launched following coordinated intelligence gathering by both the army and the air force.

Prabhakaran junior who is named after the first LTTE cadre who died in action, made headlines recently with certain sections of the media speculating that he is being groomed by Prabhakaran to take over the leadership of the organization. Twenty three year old Charles Anthony Seelan returned to the island recently after obtaining a degree in aeronautical engineering from a University in Ireland. He is believed to be leading the LTTE’s infant air wing and the Information Technology Division.

The Air Force is yet to receive credible information whether Charles Anthony or any other LTTE leader was killed as a result of yesterday’s air strike.

Several LTTE vehicles, which had weapons mounted on them, came to the aid of the victims during the initial stages of the air strike. They were also targeted by the jets. Defender trucks, Land Rover Jeeps and several motor bicycles belonging to LTTE’s rider brigade were destroyed during the strike, according to the Air Force.

Meanwhile Tamilnet claimed that six houses had been destroyed during the air strike.

On September 21st the Air Force launched an attack on the LTTE’s Imran Pandyan base located at Vishvamadu. According to the Air Force an LTTE leader in charge of chemical weapons had been killed in the attack.