At least 08 air crafts have been destroyed and several were damaged in a combined land and air attack by the Black Tiger suicide squad in the Air Force Base camp in Anuradhapura.
American built Beech Super King (CT5748) craft,and 2 Russian built MI24 gunships, a Bell 212 helicopter, a Chinese built K8 trainer air craft and 3 more small crafts have been destroyed by the Tigers,informed sources said.
Several other air crafts including MI17 transport helicopters and Un-manned Air Vehicles sustained severe damages and possibly out of operation. Two ZLIN Z 143LSi air crafts bombed over the sky of Anuradhapura, while specially trained tiger guerrilla infiltrated from two different locations in to the camp and attacked the hangers. At least two bombs fell inside the camp.
Military fired by anti air craft guns,but air tigers managed to escape over Vauniya officials said.American built Bell 212 helicopter air borne from Vauniya,came under friendly fire and crashed in to Mihinthale killing all 04 on the board.An anti air craft missile hit by the air force fell in to a nearby school premises and killing at least 15 Buffaloes, a resident said.
LTTE spokesman Rasiah Illanthirian said 21 Black Tigers were taken part the attack.Soon after the LTTE planes left from Anuradhapura Kfir and MiG jets bombed locations near Kilinochchi using para lights,LTTE said. Sri Lankan Air Force Three officers and four men from the Air Force have been killed during this mornings attack. Three were killed during the initial confrontation and another four killed at the Bell-212 crash-site. Eight more have been injured.
Members of the Air Force Regimental Special Forces are still hunting for the LTTE unit that launched the attack on the Anuradhapura Airbase. They are being assisted by the Sri Lanka Army. Several sectors have now been cleared inside the base, but several more uncleared areas still remain. The group is thought to be trapped in these sectors. The exact number of fighters in the small unit is unknown but is estimated to be around eight.
The most valuable aircraft lost in the attack is the Beechcraft which was provided by the United States government. The craft was used for reconnaissance missions on LTTE targets, including the recent attack on the Vishwamadu LTTE Research and Development Headquarters.
Defence analysts observe that the Air Force's security breach may have reversed the psychological advantage achieved by the Army and the Navy over the LTTE in recent months.
1st Lead
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam launched a devastating combined air and ground attack on the Anuradhapura Airbase at 3.10am destroying four aircraft. Fighting still continues. Tiger units that entered the airbase have so far destroyed two MI-24 Helicopter Gunships, Sri Lanka's only Beechcraft and one K-8 Trainer Jet. Another Bell-212 Helicopter transporting reinforcements crashed at Mihintale. The airbase is situated in Anuradhapura Town. Two Tamil Ealam aircraft dropped three bombs on the base and left unharmed.
The attack was a Commando style raid involving a small unit of fighters that had entered the base from Nurawa Wewa area, according to sources. Sri Lanka Air Firce's Number 10 Fighter Squadron made a circling of Kilinochchi around 5am.
Monday, October 22, 2007
LTTE Destroy 08 Aircrafts Damage Several at Anuradhapura - 3rd Lead
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39 comments:
And there goes the recovery of the tourism industry, and illustrates why we can't afford to take too much time before launching major offensives in the north.
Pathetic defence of an airforce base which cannot defend itself against a handful of terrorists. Pathetic air defence which cannot counter a single engine two seater. Pathetic response dropping bombs on targets other than LTTE head quarters and all of its bases. Sorry. those are my feelings.
defencewire:
Thanks for the speedy news article. Let's hope we did not let those maggots get away this time. Is it possible that the chopper which crashed due to enemy fire?
onecountry if you think you can do better you should stfu and go join the forces.
illegal.existance:
I know it is not easy to defend against commando style attacks. Do you think we are ready for such atatacks? How long does it take for our fighters to get airborn? Why do you think our bases become frequent LTTE targets? Is it because they are superior? Do they have radars and night vision equipment, jet fighters etc that we dont have? I am not blaming any one of our valiant soldiers. But, the leadership has not provided sufficient resources to be ready to counter such LTTE attacks.
It goes to show that MiGs or no MiGs, attacks will be launched. More radars and ManPads, less wastage on fancy aircraft... the threat is asymmetric. The forces have done a fine job so far but one hopes the policy-makers in Colombo can get things into perspective. To state the obvious, this is clearly not the way to go.
castedeus,
Political solution or not, LTTE will not fade away without a fight. A political solution for Tamils may be helpful, but LTTE needs to be countered militarily. With LTTE, the more you are willing to give in, the more they are willing to take by force. Therefore, following a robust military strategy is not an option for our survival. However, a political solution should be implemented in parallel.
C'mon guys. this is the biggest base in that area and loosing a beechcraft...the only one we had is not acceptable.
What happened to air defence?
we're at war here and it's shameful that TAF did another bombing run and left unharmed....
Don't we have AA guns, ManPads...were they sleeping?
Pointless finding excuses cos tigers have lesser technology and firepower and still they manage to hit us and go.
It's because we were not prepared end of story.
It's not a matter of us joining the forces blah blah blah... People are there already in the forces and it's disgraceful that they can't defend and airbase from 2 crop dusters...
At least if we had shot down one of those planes we have put up a fight... this pathetic
Now they will go and "bomb" lots of "military" targets just to please the public opinion.
shameful
Ranil,
Your comments are disgraceful.
Ranil,
Please stop cursing our men and women of the forces like this. We need to stand by them in the times of success as well as failure. They are there to defend the country with their lives and we should be there to support them in success and failure. I think that you owe an apology to our brave soldier.
@ sam
i really agree with u. when our forces hit them hard v all celebrating but when ever they hit us hard, blame our forces starting form their birth. tatz too selfish. may triple gem bells all.
when we make a mistake you gotta admit it first and then fix it.
end of the day tigers managed to come and hit us hard when we had them cornered... lots of people died achieving those objectives right in the battlefield under huge sacrifices...
If a well fortified base in a relative safe area from conflict can't defend itself from 2 prop driven planes and a few tigers... that is indeed is very disgraceful..
Most forces fought in much harder conditions and horrible odds to win over tigers and it's sad to see a entire bases just giving it away just like that...
Sam...i have the highest respect for those brave people who put their lives at risk for the greater cause...And i don't believe i have insulted them.
If at all this base has insulted all those who died gaining all those victories over ltte.
I salute those brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice today and i blame the military big wigs for letting these kinds of things happen.
Hemantha...
Constructive criticism mate... learn to live with it.
You are no better than i am in on this and i have the right to e xpress my thoughts until defencewire boots me out... And i will still have a clear conscience cos i'm not hear to insult SLDF nor to give them undue credit. When we mess up you gotta admit we messed up first or else there's no way to make sure it won't happen again...
Katunayake bombings happened and SLAF should've been ready for this.
Had they had been prepared...instead of us being the losers of todays event we would be celebrating over the downing of 2 TAF planes...
I pity your ignorance
errrrrr... Another error.. or Tigers are one steps away from killing them selves !!!.
Guys do n't forget our forces are there to protect us all as well as live. But Ltte is taking their chances.
If our boys and girls in forces need any moral support it should be now.
Common let's give the support.
DefenceWire-
How comes we are very short of interligence suddenly. Few weeks ago we were all most hitting bombs on Praba's head, now we have all most nothing?
Sam Perera,
Re: your comment to me: I'm a bit unsure what you're on about there mate, you're preaching to the converted.
ranil,
I don't have any problem with the facts in your comments. But the way those were presented was just terrible and demoralizing.
I feel very sad too. But that’s not an excuse.
Hemantha
I respect your support towards the forces as i also feel the same towards them. But that doesn't mean you should go "soft" on them when stupid mistakes are made.
This is WAR and people die in hundreds when certain people don't get their act together.
I don't see why anyone should be "polite" over it...
Look at what has happened... K8, two Mi24's and SLAF's only BeechCraft is gone...
those machinery would've saved thousands of lives in the long run and hundreds almost ever operation... All those assets were lost cos we were caught napping...
This is not Pallali...this is not Trinco...this base is in relative safe area...and heavily fortified... Especially when you have such assets operating out from that base...
We've given one up to the enemy and it's a huge moral booster for their fighting cadre and who do you think's gonna face the brunt of it... It's not some big wigs in a fortified bases but the soldiers on ground who charge into oncoming bullets and artillery fire...
It's so sad that we can't get our act together and give these chances to our enemy...
This is no job for the faint hearted and you gotta be brutal with everything...even when it comes to criticising...
ranil,
"This is no job for the faint hearted and you gotta be brutal with everything...even when it comes to criticising..."
Agreed. But there is a way and time for that. I think I know where your heart is. But lots of people are going to write to this site and the defencenet in the next few days. We will see where their hearts are.
Hemantha
and we will take them on when that happens :)
at least i' sure to have a wingman :)
DefenceWire
Tamilnet is claiming the destruction of 8 air crafts and they have release the pictures of the 21 member black tiger team that engaged the base...
are these numbers correct or is tamilnet doing their usual tricks?
Anyone know what a CTH 748 is, which TamilNet claims they destroyed?
IE...CTH 748 sounds like some form of a Helo.... Not sure though
“He stated that we were a ‘soft society’ with a ‘soft culture’ and not one bent on revenge or avenging a crime. He referred to western society, particularly, to Israel, and stated that the latter country has survived only because it aggressively went after its enemies. “
"Nation" newspaper Quoting Dr Gerard Chaliand
We have to admit Dr. Chaliand is spot on with this comment. I would say the softness of the majority has been exploited yet again to our detriment. Here, the enemy is the guy hell bent on harming us and the enemy within who aids and abet the enemy for personal gain, negligence and complacency. Dr. Chaliand does not mince his words when he says the govt forces cannot crush LTTE because of the inherent flaw of our culture and way we do things.
There are a few even in this forum reluctant to blame the individual responsible for this mistake. This is why we cannot win this war that easily. Who remembers “Jaya-Sikurui” op, Mullativu, Poonaryn camp overruns? Ratwatte, Gen./Daluwathe/Gen S. Weerasooria were in charge throughout. The military commission setup found these people grossly negligent however it was wiped under the carpet. Then they overran Wanni.noone was found responsible. Then they overran EP and final blow to the economy and army morale by attacking KIA. Even then these so called Generals weren't sacked at least. The moral of the story is, unless you fix the problem early on and learn from it/punish the individuals responsible, the situation inevitably gets worse. We need to think and act like heartless cold calculating machines to beat cunning and ruthless foe. Instead of thinking of a calculated response, the air force flies over Kilinochi bombing the LTTE runway when we know its a useless knee-jerk reaction.
The camp commander is responsible for camp security. Looking after and thinking about mitigating the risks involved in looking after Air Assets 24/7 is his job. As a lay person, I ask my self why didn't he deploy a few dogs (even wal-ballo) to patrol the perimeter? Why didn't he think of electronic surveillance when it could have been more economical also save on man power? As a last resort he could have set up few rings of defense each one takes up defense when the other fails. I think the Air Force commander must now be put on notice to the effect anymore mistakes he will get the sack. Punishing the ones responsible sends a message to the troops problem is being seriously noted and being addressed. This can only restore morale and confidence by the troops that people among them who don't pull as much weight, will get punished.
we need a show of force now and we need it fast. not sure what MI is cooking up, but i hope it puts the fear of god into these pricks.
Panhinda
well said bro
Ranil,
I read your comment too. I agree with you fully, especially Wrt constructive criticism.
panhinda:
Look at my posts at the begining of the thread. I was asked to go join the forces. :) Since I am not in a position to do that, I decided to shut my mouth.
I still believe that base commander or someone at higher level who is responsible for the security of the base should resign. He failed miserably. Having said that, I will not write anymore on this particular thread.
On the issue of potential friendly fire, I think we need more training. That is the scariest thing in the war even americans suffer from time to time. I still can't believe if we cannot differentiate between a chopper and a light aircraft.
Onecountry,
You do not need to be discouraged by one person's comment. Keep contributing.
This is a forum for every patriot and diverse opinion is an asset to the forum.
I believe that the DefenceWire team is with me.
Given the no of LTTE caders infiltrated the base, I think we lost the entire fleet there...
This sounds really bad....
onecountry,
That kind of attitude is old fashioned and unacceptable to most. I would just ignore that comment.
CTH748 - It should be Combat(C)Training(T) Helicopter(H) ...
All migs and kfirs start with
CF(Combat fighter)...
http://www.scramble.nl/lk.htm
Hmmm...there is a paragraph called..tiger ealam airforce....
I really hope the Beechcraft is not destroyed or damaged.
can we still get another one from the USA?
> can we still get another one from the USA?
They will offer at a cost with other strings attached. Come to think of it, the Bond may have been issued at the right time. The govt has $500 mil to play with albeit at very high interest rate. In any case there has be unnecessary costs cutting across the board. This includes the armed forces making more of an effort to use existing recources efficiently. Streamline expenses, find innovative ways of raising revenue, cut down on corruption and waste. All these have an impact on the war effort and no one knows how long we need to sustain this level of defense spending.
After that Katunayake attack, the airforce made a big deal about the introduction of the regimental special forces unit of the airforce to (amongst other things) defend and re-capture airfields/ bases. I think this Regiment needs to be used more effectively both at guarding our airfields and taking theirs.
The Beechcraft is a twin-engine and originally civilian craft. Its civilian name is Beechcraft King Air or C-12 Huron, the military name given to it under a program called Guardrail. The aircraft is an 'electronic snooper'. The Beechcraft King Air 200 and variants aren't that expensive (comparatively). Its the equipment on board that are expensive. It was a severe loss. I don't know whether the US would give another one but even if they do, it would be for a price.
illegal.... did ya see the Black tigers uniforms ? They infiltrated wearing SLA gear, but they are heavily armed to the teeth too ! See the BT idiot dead on the runway ? His back pack is loaded with RPG's !!! According to lankapage SLAF Radar detected the 2 Zlins but, were trying get the SLA craft to take off out of the way when the ground attack began true ? But, I cant believe our guys shot the Bell 212 ~ Sucks !
I hope SLA mounts commando raid into one of their bases !
rajaratasurfer, This is nothing new.
During the Oyatha Alaikal, Karuna teams (Jeyanthan regiment) used to come dressed exactly like us wearing the same colour arm-band. Once they infiltrated, we couldn't say whose who.
Several weeks ago, a SLAF uniform was detected from colombo, along with other suspicious equipment.
SLA LRRP teams also infiltrate LTTE areas wearing LTTE cama.
http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=4812
How they entered the camp.
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