A mysterious artillery attack on Omanthai entry-exit point north of Vavuniya closed down that gateway to LTTE controlled area last afternoon, hours before the funeral of LTTE 'Brigadier' Thamilchelvan. The closure was subsequent to the withdrawal of the ICRC and SLA sentries from the checkpoint following artillery shells that fell near the Omanthai checkpoint, which is the last checkpoint in government areas along the A-9 Highway until Muhamalai in Jaffna.
Sources indicated that Tamil mourners, including the mother of Thamilchelvan were among those who couldn't cross over to LTTE areas in time for the funeral in Kilinochchi. Chelvan's body was taken along streets in Kilinochchi followed by a motorcade. Thamilchelvan's mother and several siblings living in a developed country had arrived the same day to, ironically the Katunayake airport. Why they were not smuggled in and asked to follow normal procedure in entering LTTE controlled areas through the unsafe Omanthai checkpoint where civilians normally wait for hours long until artillery duels subside, is puzzling.
The no-man's land ahead of Omanthai, and the checkpoint itself has been a location for many bitter battles in recent days. There was also no clear indication that the SLA was informed in advance of their coming. The SLA had cooperated in other such funerals such as this, like the funeral of the Batticaloa-Amparai Political Leader Kausalyan (Arasial Poruppalar) for example. Why the much mourned leader's next of kin were treated in this manner by the LTTE when Pripaharan's loved-ones are smuggled in from India by Sea Tigers and special escorts of suicide boats, for example, is the question.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Chelvan's Funeral Minus Mother and Siblings
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Tamilselvam would not be dead if someone or some group within LTTE didn't want him out of the way. There are various theories floating around. One school of thought is Velu has to get rid of some in the second tier command to make way for his son. The incident with Soosai they say is related to an ongoing internal power struggle. I haven't seen Soosai attending the funeral. I hope MI is keeping tabs of subtle messages coming from LTTE leadership. One such example is this quote from Pottu Amman,
"many of us were not aware of the inherent political abilities hidden in him, but our leader Pirapaharan rightly identified them."
This says to me Pottu never trusted Tamilselvam.
The govt has to demonstrate it looks after people who away the from the movement. The LTTE is all over him like a pack of dogs in UK. This is why Karuna issue should be handled with care.
MYSTERY BEHIND THAMILCHELVAN'S DEATH-INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR--PAPER NO. 299
Normally, whenever the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) makes an air strike on areas held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), it makes an announcement immediately after its planes safely return to base and a claim regarding the successes achieved. The LTTE then makes a counter-claim refuting the version of the SLAF.
2. In the case of the death of S.P.Thamilchelvan, the head of the political wing of the LTTE, supposedly in an SLAF air strike on November 2, 2007, this reportedly did not happen. The SLAF initially did not come out with any statement or claim.
As far as I can see MOD announced the raid at 0916. What's Mr.B.Raman talking about??
Any comments????
slwatch,
This is false. In fact confirmation of TS' death was confirmed through an NGO on the day itself after having carefully planned and executed the attack. There is always a delay in confirming an attack, especially in this case since intercepted communications revealed something serious had happened. The attack happened very early in the day Friday and press briefing usually held when government offices open at 8-9am. We are sick of these reports by foreign pundits who have little or no experience in actual counter-insurgency of the kind we face in Sri Lanka.
Guys this is false information, Tamil Chelvan's mother and siblings are actually not in Sri Lanka, they were denied coming into Sri Lanka by the government. DefenceWire if i may ask where do you get your information from.
Pottu Amman, Balraj, and Soosai all in one open place
http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2007/11/thamilchelvan_funerel_06.jpg
Defencewire I think it would be informative if someone could put lables to some of the faces in these LTTE photos, such as who is who, I mean we know some of them like Pottu etc, but others who knows.
Is there any other way to get these tamilnet images???
We dont have access in SL..
b#1
go to www.vtunnel.com
enter the tamilnet url into the given field and you're set :)
Defencewire
Off topic...Today as i was driving along the galleface road to work...i noticed at least 3 navy IPC's in very close proximity to the shore...less than 100 metres out into the sea...
there were few gray shadows in the deep seas but couldn't figure out whether they were FAC's or not...
Seems like SLDF is fully geared up for an almost impending seaborne attack from the ltte... Probably colombo harbor or something...
I live quite close the sea in wattala and i've noticed increased patrolling by FAC's too...
We should not allow ltte to take on the port... They've tried and tried many times it's good to see SLDF on high alert
Ranil,
Thank you very very much!
But we cant go to the tamilnet web site right?
anyway thanx again.
b#1
You can access tamilnet.com through a web proxy site.
ex:
http://www.fastwebproxy.net/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/0000000/http/www.tamilnet.com/
These sites publish news/pics related to LTTE activites which are not published in tamilnet.
sankathi.net
puthinam.com
pathivu.com
tamileditors.com
sibernews.com
nwReader,
wow!
im very happy how we share our knowledge (but i have nothing to share with you all). these two web sites are very worth (dnet & DW).
thanking you very much!
From defence.lk. LTTE still roaming in Thissamaharamaya area?
Three Civilians hacked to death - Thissamaharamaya
The Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) says three civilians of Thambarawava village in Thissamaharamaya were hacked to death by unknown killers last night (November 5). The bodies have been found by the villagers this morning.
Meanwhile, police sources said that another civilian in the same area was seriously injured in a possible anti personal mine explosion. The injured is presently undergoing treatments at Hambanthota General Hospital.
More information will follow...
From Daily Mirror
About 50 Tiger cadres enter East
Military intelligence alerts that around 50 LTTE cadres have entered the East during the last couple of days to carry out assassinations and claymore explosions.
DefenceWire,
Can you confirm this from Iqbal Athas's Situation Report
"Air Force sources say that within hours of the attack on the airbase, ground attack aircraft bombed the LTTE airbase in Iranamadu. It is located south-east of Kilinochchi adjacent to the Iranamadu tank. These sources said during a sortie where the aircraft flew low, the guerrillas had fired what is suspected to be Surface-to-Air Missiles. However, counter missile systems were activated. The pilots boldly dived to bomb a location where the two guerrilla aircraft involved in the airbase attack had landed. The lights at the airbase had been on for quite sometime."
Is this another Athas Blooper?
b#1
through Vtunnel.com you can access tamilnet... i do it everyday from SL :)
iqbal athas has indeed made an error in this sunday's sitrep..he has shown a pix of chinese-built Nanchang PT-6 basic,prop trainers,& attributes these to the K-8 advanced trainer..now we are more than ever confused!!i understand that 1 K-8 was destroyed outside the hangar,so the other 5 K-8's are in reality PT-6's which were destroyed!!..
his mother and brothers didn't come to Sri Lanka.
Read this:
""My mother wants to go home to the funeral but the Norwegian government has told us it is not safe," said Sivasubramaniam, 52."
This is Tamil Selvams brother.
Full story is here:
http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/11/06/4634070-sun.html
Only half of the link shown.
Here is the full link:
http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/
11/06/4634070-sun.html
foxtrot...
i believe that story is true...
let's see what DW has to say
nwreader,
In that pic you mentioned, one guy is civis is looking towards the sky..(First row, between 2 and 3 persons about 3 rows behind)
Looks like they had an uninvited visitor from SLAF..Or they are on the look out for UAV's..
lets forget about TS,that part of the story concluded last friday,not to boast too much about it,by the way i doubt the man on the picture is POTTU,most probably its the dummy,this guy looks bit too young to be pottu,POttus face is wrinkled and mouths bit different from the fellow
rajiv,
We heard part of his family came to SL from a diplomatic source. But when we asked SLA, they said they weren't aware of this. Maybe they never came, which is unusual since Norway is unlikely to stop them from coming, having known Chelvan very closely. In fact we heard they even facilitated this. Maybe as we have speculated, it was all a setup. We will get to the bottom of this.
The man in picture is definitely Poddu Ammaan, head of LTTE's internal intelligence.
It is not unusual for LTTE to fire SAMs. In fact they did that during Thoppigala battle also but they never hit. We can't tell you why but they didn't and LTTE will keep firing SAMs nonetheless. The area around Iranamadu, Puthukudiiruppu Mannar North airstrips have considerable LTTE 'air defence systems'. The area around Iranamadu airstrip was indeed bombed but as we indicated in an article soon after this attack, the delay may have allowed LTTE to move their planes to safety. We believe these planes have either detachable or swinging wings allowing them to be transported from place to place. Two hangars were also bombed, but the chances are the planes are unharmed.
guys, not sure if someone has posted this already, but it seems Tamilselvans mother and siblings live in Canada and were present for some events in Canada on Monday night, so it seems impossible they would have flown to Sri Lanka and back in time from a Monday funeral in Sri Lanka:
Quoted from a Canadian paper:
"Thamilchelvan had close ties to the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] community as his 75-year-old mother, two brothers and a sister all live in the Markham area and were on hand at last night's commemoration at Markham Fairgrounds. "
Toronto Sun Article
Then the Army was correct. Sorry for the confusion and ambiguity guys. We should have gone with SLA's account like we normally do!
defencewire/guys,i beleive that the LTTE SAM network is indeed pretty extensive in the north-east thatre.of course,the MANPADS(shoulder-fired)variety..The reason why they are ubable to down any supersonic jets is obviouslu because of range/speed limitations..kfir's are able to successfully dodge these missiles,while MIG-27's with their superior low-altitude speed could duck these missiles by dropping chaff & flares..
However,our helicopters do face a major risk from these SAM'S..MI-24's are equipped with 'disco-light' infra-red jammers & heat-suppressed engines..in addition to traditional decoys,like flares/chaff of course..
rifard,
We wouldn't call it extensive, rather MANPADs deployed on a priority basis.We believe there is a special unit that travels with Pripaharan for instance, and other units at Iranamadu and several locations in Kilinochchi for example. Sometimes there are units deployed during special functions. This effectively negates Mi-24 attacks but not the Number 10 squadron. However, Number 10 too follows some guidelines when launching attacks.
I remember the LTTE guys caught in USA trying to purchase weapons were desparate to buy modern SAM's to attck the MIGs and Kaffir's.He was saying they fly too high and fast. The day LTTE manages to get more sophisticated SAM's our air superiority will be over.
I think it is just a matter of time. Dont you think so guys.
mottapala
Then we will have to get better jets or try to update the electronic warfare systems and jammers in our existing jets if possible.
I read with interest one of the blogs which compares the pictures of VP in the past and now. I also feel that VP is extensively using a dummy as Chirchill did during WWII.In that case it will increasingly difficult to target him as even most of the LTTE would't know which one is the real one.
The underground bunkers found during Riviresa were extremely well built, strong and impossible to identify from air. Even aircontioning was there. The present ones must be even cleverer. even if we indentify the location we may need the 'bunker busters to penetrate them.[probably we may already have them]
Incase he runs away in a tin can we still cannot beat it as observed last few days.
I have a feeling if we push the LTTE back to the wall a 'parippu'kind of thing is going to happen. Not from india this time, may be Norway of UK.
if you want ot access any blocked site, use a open proxy, which can be easily found through google.
in the search engine , just type open proxy, you can find thousands.
then select one and configure your internet explorer to use it (tools -->internet options --> connections --> lan settings)
Some time access can be little bit slower.but There is a solution for that.
First use the open proxy, untill you get the page, then again go to proxy configuration seetings and disable it.
After that whatever you brows using that IE window will be allwed
, unless the SLT is smart enough to continuously monitor the session.
mottapala
these LTTE guys get younger day by day when all the people in the world get older...
mottapala,
If you want to read about LTTE SAM threat, check out the "Kfir mishap" threat on LNP.
There is very little chance of a Kfir/Mig being brought down even with the best MANPAD's available (SA-18 etc). The countermeasures on the aircraft are sufficient to defeat these. To pose a threat to such supersonic aircraft, the terrorists would have to buy much more sophisticated SAM's (truck mounted SRAAM's and medium range AAM's). These are not available in the black market and are not used even by terrorist groups in the Middle East who have state backing.
Thankx for clarification,defencewire..
You'll must be remembering during the kosovo or bosnia? conflict that an american F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter was brought down by a serbian MANPAD,an SA-18 improved version..
Their tactics were copied by the IRAQi's in the 2nd gulf-war,whereby the entire SAM radar defence system is shut-down,in fear of anti-radar aircraft-'wild weasels'of the US airforce,who specialize in attacking SAM radars,from stand-off range..the missiles,i think they are called Maverick or Shrike home into these enemy radar signals & destroy the radar,& associated fire-control van's radar posts..
The aim of shutting down the SAM radar's in a particular area,is to deny these anti-radar aircraft a target..thereby,missiles & AA guns are fired on the 'Blind',without radar assistance..however,on this case,the american's who din't detect any enemy SAM radars tracking them,suddenly found their threat screen light-up,indicating a SAM threat almost directly underneath the aircraft.then suddenly that particular SAM unit got assistance from a nearby tracking radr & fired at the stealth fighter..this put to rest the myth that the F-117A aircraft was 'invisible'..due to ts stealthy design..
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