|
Eelam
War IV totters on last legs
The
Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka
told The Bottom Line yesterday that the Eelam War IV
has entered its final stage.
“Eelam War IV has reached its final stage as Sri Lanka
Army troops have successfully laid siege to the entire Puthukudyiruppu
east area and the troops advance towards the LTTE terror
bastion. Our troops are advancing further and we will declare
this war ended very soon. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Leader V. Prabhakaran may attempt to flee the island by sea
as he is a multi-millionaire terrorist and will want to live
longer,” the Army Commander said.
The LTTE remain only in Puthukudyiruppu east and have
relinquished the rest of the area to Army control at the moment.
Troops entered LTTE stronghold
While this column was being written yesterday morning, the
582 Division commanded by Lt. Colonel Sanajaya Wanigasinghe
advanced his troops from west to east of Puthukudyiruppu and
the Task Force 8 commanded by Colonel Ravipriya advanced his
troops from the south towards Puthukudyiruppu. Meanwhile the
581 Brigade under Lt. Colonel Deshapriya Gunawaradane advanced
his troops from north to south on to Puthukudyiruppu, the
final LTTE bastion
Chief-of-Staff
change
Sri
Lanka Army’s Chief-of-Staff Major General Nissanka Wijesinghe,
USP,ndc,IG is due to retire after completion of 55 years of
age on February 28, 2009. After Maj. Gen. Wijesinghe’s
retirement, Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri RWP,USP,ndc,psc from
the Jaffna Security Forces Command and who served as SF Commander
in Jaffna for more than three years is expected to be appointed
as Chief-of-Staff.
Sources from the battlefront said pitched battles erupted
as troops confronted the LTTE cadres backed by mortar and
artillery fire. The 5 Armoured Corp. commanded by Lt. Colonel
Nihal Samarakoon provided vital Armour support to the
ground troops from their T-55 Main battle Tanks and BMP Tanks,
destroying Tiger bunkers.
Eelam War IV is almost at the finishing line. The entire
cadre of the LTTE has been confined by the military to the
Puthukudyiruppu east build up, and the No Fire Zone 63
square kilometres in extent. Heavy fighting ensued between
troops and the LTTE west of Puthukkudiyirippu and East of
Ampalavanpokkanai since February 21 morning as counter terrorist
operations entered its last phases in Mullaitivu. According
to latest information from the battlefront the Sri Lanka Army
has encircled the LTTE at Puthukudyiruppu east, and the safe
zone demarcated by the government. This area is the narrow
sliver of land between the lagoon and the Indian Ocean. Just
below Chalai town in the map is the inlet to the lagoon. The
safe zone begins from around five kilometres below Chalai
and runs up to a few kilometres from Mullaitivu town where
there is another inlet to the Nanthikadal lagoon. LTTE fired
mortars from the Safe Zone and they used civilians as human
shield said one of the civilians who was admitted to
the Trincomalee Hospital
Troops on the move
As this column is being written, the Sri Lanka Army’s
58 Division commanded by Brig. Shavendra Silva with 581 Brigade
commanded by Lt. Col. Deshapriya Gunawardene, with the 6 Gemunu
Watch (6 GW) led by Lt. Col. Kamal Pinnawela, 10 Sri Lanka
Light Infantry (10 SLLI) led Lt Colonel Shamnantha Wickramasena,
8 GW Lt Colonel Vajira Welagedara, 9 GW led by Lt. Col. Lal
Chandrasiri 11 SLLI Lt Colonel Kitisiri Ekanayake are all
advancing from the north towards Puthukudyiruppu east build
up. Meanwhile, the 582 Brigade commanded by Lt. Col. Sanjaya
Wanigasinghe under his command Major Saliya Amunugama Command
12 Gajaba Regement(GR) 10 GR Commanded by Major Jayantha Udovita
12 (GW) Commandeered by Major Samapath Ekanayake advancing
towards the east from the Paranthan-Mullaitivu A-35 road.
From the south, Task Force 8 under Col. Ravipriya under his
command follow battalions advancing from south to north Puthukudyiruppu
as well as advancing towards the north, almost hugging the
shores of the Nanthikadal lagoon. The 14 GR commandeered by
Major Janaka Pallekubura 4 Vijaba Infantry Regiment (VIR)
Rohitha Aluvihare 1 (VIR) Major S.A.B. Disanayake 15
(SLLI) Lt. Colonel S.P.K. Hettiarachi
1 (GW) Lt Colonel M.A.A. Wijesooriya 19
(GW) Lt. Colonel J.M.C. Jayasuriya are engaged in operations.
When asked about the latest situation, Army Commander Lt.
Gen. Sarath Fonseka categorically stated that he has already
deployed three defence lines to prevent any LTTE infiltration. The
53 Division commanded by Brig. Kamal Gunaratne and the Task
Force 3 led by Col. Nishantha Wanniarachchi will be held as
reserves, while they carry out clearing operations. The 57
Division led by Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias and Task Force 2 under
Brig. Rohana Bandara are now consolidating their positions
in captured areas while clearing operations are going ahead.
They are ensuring that the Tigers do not infiltrate the jungle
patches in these areas to carry out counter attacks. The 58
Division link up with Task Force 8 will further
consolidate the area.
Tiger leaders join the fray
It is reliably learnt the remaining Tiger leaders like Theepan,
Vidishu, Bhanu and Sonam are now in the forefront of the battle
for survival. Around their particular areas they have again
built up a massive earth bund to thwart the military advance.
This bund is being confronted by the Army and some areas have
already been breached. A soldier from the 9 GW commanded by
Lt. Col. Lal Chandrasiri had noticed two back hoes and a bull-dozer
belonging to the LTTE, repairing a section of the breached
earth bund. Soldiers had aimed his RPG and fired at it and
had observed the heavy machinery being destroyed. Thus, the
battle is continuing around the clock.
A senior military officer at the battlefront said, “We
will not allow them (Tigers) to rest. We will keep on attacking.
Our troops’ morale is very high.”
Information received while this column was being written say
that the earth bund has been overcome and troops are moving
further on. It is interesting to note that the last stronghold
of the LTTE is the Puthukkudiyirippu town and after it is
overrun by the military, it will have no place else to go
to.
Civilians too are trapped in the safe zone, which the
LTTE has exploited by positioning some of its heavy guns.
The LTTE cadres are firing at the advancing troops using the
human shield to their advantage, while the Army has been reluctant
to open up fully in keeping with its ‘Zero Civilian Casualty’
policy.
Victims of the ‘liberators’ and LTTE tactics
Some of the civilians who have been evacuated or have
fled to government controlled areas and are being treated
at the Trincomalee hospital have had their legs amputated.
This was the result of the LTTE mining all possible escape
routes taken by fleeing civilians. Civilians had convey this
to doctors in the Trincomalee hospital.
LTTE foreign influence
A while ago, the LTTE cadres or sympathisers who settled down
in foreign countries like the USA, European Union, France,
and the Far East etc. were financed by the outfit to entertain
certain middle level officials in their diplomatic missions
and cultivate a rapport with them. These mid-level officials
could in turn influence their respective Foreign Ministers.
Identifying this threat, Sri Lanka’s Former Foreign Minister
Lakshman Kadirgamar went all out lobbying against the LTTE
terrorism during his tenure, which contributed immensely to
his assassination.
But now at this juncture, these mid-level officials
are pressurizing their respective governments through their
Foreign Ministries to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government
to enter into a ceasefire with the LTTE. While resisting this
pressure, the Sri Lankan government too does not want to go
in for a ceasefire and insists that even if it goes for a
ceasefire, the LTTE should lay down arms before doing so.
Tigers’ modus operandi
While reaching the final stages of an armed struggle,
Velupillai Prabhakaran does not seem to attach any values
on human lives. Therefore at a decisive stage he may resort
to a mass suicide counter attack or kill civilians while committing
suicide and put the blame on the Sri Lankan Government. This
has been revealed to the security forces by some of the wounded
LTTE cadres evacuated along with civilians and who are receiving
treatment in certain hospitals.
The nature of terrorists
By nature, most terrorist leaders suffer some form on
mental or psychological aberration. V. Prabhakaran too may
be one such person. According to cadres who had been close
to him and now under security forces’ custody, whenever
the Tigers carried out bombing or terror missions, he wants
the mission videoed and prefers to watch them, probably deriving
some pleasure from the mayhem and sufferings of the victims.
Some call these types of characters liberators or liberation
fighters. But in reality, will a liberator kill his/her own
people? Nelson Mandela never killed his people. Palestine
Liberation Organisation’s Yasser Arafath never killed
his own people. But on the contrary, Osama bin Laden kills
his own people and Velupillai Prabhakaran kills his own people.
So these are clearly blood-thirsty individuals with some sort
of psychological aberrations.
According to intelligence reports, there are still certain
LTTE operatives in the city of Colombo. But once Eelam War
IV ends, they too will be rendered helpless. The Eelam War
may end, but there is another war which the government and
the security forces have to engage in, if they do not want
to see the emergence of fresh so-called liberators leading
other ‘liberation struggles’. This is called ‘winning
the hearts and minds of people’ – which is very
much more difficult than conventional warfare.
The
copy-cat 9/11 of 20/2 LTTE has link with Al Qaeda
The World’s first Air Force combat with terrorist aircraft
with explosives and bombs took place last week. This air attack
is a clear indication that the LTTE has tried to emulate the
Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers
in the USA. The only difference being that the planes used
by the Al Qaeda were passenger planes hijacked with its load
of passengers and the LTTE craft were carrying a damaging
load of explosives. This probably makes Sri Lanka the only
country that has shot down two explosive laden aircraft engaged
in a bombing mission over a city since World War II.
Information on last Friday’s LTTE air attack
on Colombo has been revealed by the relevant authorities by
now. Two of the LTTE’s Zlin 143 light aircraft had taken
off on Friday, February 20, from the Puthukkudiyirippu west
built-up area. Sources clearly indicate that they had taken
off from a normal road and not from any runway. The distance
needed for a Zlin 143 for take-off being roughly some 700
metres.
According to the news story posted on the pro-LTTE Tamilnet
website, the main targets were the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF)
Headquarters at Slave Island in Colombo and the SLAF air base
with its Kfirs, MIGs and helicopter gunship hangars at Katunayake.
Though the website published a photograph of the two ‘Sky
Tiger’ pilots with LTTE Leader V. Prabhakaran, sources
say it was not a recent picture, as Prabhakaran is very busy
elsewhere and has no time to pose for photographs.
The first plane struck Colombo at around 9.45 pm while
the second headed towards Katunayake. Meanwhile, the first
sound of the planes taking off had been heard by ground troops
operating in Puthukkudiyirippu and they had alerted the Security
Forces Headquarters at Vavuniya. Thereafter troops had detected
two suspicious craft over Olumadu and Mannar at around 8.35
pm. SLAF Commander Air Marshal Roshan Gunatilleke had immediately
given instructions to the F-7 fighter squadron and the jets
had been airborne from Katunayake air base by 8.50 pm. Meanwhile
the air defence system in Colombo had been activated and a
blackout was imposed on the city.
At approximately 9.00 pm, radars at Palavi detected the movements
of the two aircraft and the entire Air Defence System was
activated and all eyes were turned skywards. By 9.15 pm the
two planes were detected over the Mirigama area and by 9.47
pm, the two Tiger aircraft entered the air space of Colombo.
From then onwards all systems were go for the Air Defence
Systems while the SLAF’s F-7 jets flew over the Mullaitivu
sector to engage the planes if and when they returned after
their mission, thus effectively throwing an air blockade.
By 9.50 pm, the city was in darkness and tracers from the
air defence system could be seen over the skies. The firing
hit one of the Tiger planes, which exploded in flames before
hitting the 12th floor of the Inland Revenue Department
building just opposite the SLAF headquarters at Slave Island.
The city Fire Brigade which was also placed on high alert
raced to the scene and was able to extinguish the blaze, preventing
it from spreading. The same night SLAF personnel recovered
parts of the plane and its engine from inside the building.
Meanwhile, at 9.55 pm, the other Czechz-built Zlin 143 was
heading towards the SLAF Main Air Base at Katunayake. While
the plane neared the air base, the SLAF’s No. 32 land
based air defence system gunners opened fire. Later investigations
of the downed craft and its pilot’s body showed that
the fire from the 12.7mm guns had struck the pilot’s,
chest and head. He had been unable to trigger the 210 odd
kilograms of C-4 explosives packed inside the plane. The plane
had fallen on to a marshy land some 1.5 kms south of the airport
premises. It is not clear as to what load of explosives the
other plane carried. Are they the last of the Tiger planes?
The person who was behind the LTTE’s ability to
bring in these aircraft was a person by the name of Suresh
Gunapalan, sometimes also referred to as Sujith Gunapalan,
his Sri Lankan passport number being M 312812. He is said
to be from Thalaadi in Jaffna and received his education at
Stanley College, also in Jaffna. He had been a hardcore member
of the LTTE’s procurement wing headed by KP, and is said
to be the only person with some military training within the
wing. He has brought in five such planes for the Tigers. Of
these, three have been destroyed by the SLAF and Army up to
now – two on Friday and one, while flying over Mullaitivu
when returning after its mission of dropping the bomb at the
Kelanitissa power station sometime back.
Asked what his opinion of the remaining two aircraft was,
SLAF Commander Air Marshal Roshan Gunatilleke said, “We
are ready for those too.” He personally rendered his
appreciation to the air defence system team who had achieved
this remarkable feat. But the million dollar question is,
“Will the LTTE attempt a repetition of the attack with
the last two planes it is said to posses?”
|
