32 LTTE cadres were killed in fierce fighting in Mannar north (general area Adampan) and Vavuniya on the 11th and 12th of this month. Further fierce fighting occurred in the Jaffna FDL resulting in the death of an estimated 10 LTTE cadres. One LTTE mortar launching pad was destroyed in Mannar. The majority of the LTTE killed in Mannar are from the Charles Anthony Brigade. The Army lost 3 men from the 58 Division.
Intelligence sources reveal that an average of 4 dead corpses of LTTE cadres is returned to relatives in Mullaithivu alone. LTTE's 'Colonels' Jeyam and Bhanu who are assigned to stop Army's limited offensives are facing severe logistical and administrative problems due to fighting opening up in a number of fronts in Mannar and Vavuniya. Commando and Special Forces Brigades of the Army operating in Mannar and Vavuniya respectively are ambushing vehicle convoys of essential supplies to LTTE front lines. Continued aerial surveillance and bombing of new camps erected by LTTE is another cause for concern for the organization as they have to keep moving camps regularly. Jeyam , born and bred in Mannar is under mounting pressure to hold ground after losing both Vaharai and Thoppigala previously under his command.
Meanwhile a considerably large number of Sea Tigers are undergoing special training in Chalai and Pooneryn in anticipation of an amphibious assault by the Sri Lanka Navy. Naval Intelligence sources have also warned of possible preemptive strikes by the Sea Tigers following the aerial bombing and complete annihilation of 12 8 meter-long fiberglass boats at Murukandi near Kilinochchi recently.
The boat building technology was first acquired on behalf of the Tigers by 'Colonel' Shankar alias Vaithiyalingam Sornalingam who was a qualified Marine as well as Aeronautical Engineer. A particularly brilliant personality, Shankar first obtained his marine engineering skills at the Hindustani Institute of Engineering Technology at Chennai. He was also qualified as an Aeronautical Technician. He subsequently worked as Engineer for several shipping-lines in the United Kingdom, Switzerland etc. before moving to Canada where he worked for Air Canada. Sornalingam was killed by the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol on 26th September 2001 at Oddusudan.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Fierce Fighting. More on the way
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13 comments:
Sometime ago there was speculation that the Sea-tigers were planning to launch a large number of suicide craft in a simultaneous attack on Navy assets all over. Did this get swiped by the attack on the boat factory, or are we simply not realizing the calm before the storm?
Amphibious assault anywhere down south requires them to bing their boats in stages. This is not an easy task not able to being noticed by someone. The refueling points along the coastal belt have to be setup or some 'mothership' arrangement where a larger vessel accompany smaller ones with supplies. They could even maintain a base in an island close by. When they attacked the base in the south somewhere, the vessels were spotted even though the Naval command ignored the warnings. Its essential any suspicious boat moments reported by civilians has to be taken seriously.
If its an amphibious assault, it more likely its on one of the outlying islands off the Jaffna Peninisula. They have already tried to capture Jaffna by island hopping which was quite innovative. They could be rehearsing to this again.
panhinda if the LTTE do try to attack a naval base, it's not going to be a major offensive. They wouldn't intend to hold on to it. And they won't send their large vessels on such a suicide mission. They just need a few small suicide boats disguised as fishing vessels. They'll try to ram them against naval craft and piers causing as much destruction as they can.
And such an attack will almost certainly involve a simultaneous attack from the ground. While the navy is busy repelling the suicide craft, a buch of black tigers will try to sneak into the base and destroy as much equipment as they can, or vice versa.
Ultimately, unlike say Katunayake, it's unlikely such an attack will have lasting direct military consequences, unless they manage to sink an OPV. We have a lot more attack craft than jets, and they're not as easy to destroy as the LTTE found in Katunayake.
Even if they do attack Trincomalee and launch a simultaneous offensive against Jaffna, it's not going to have much of an effect. The troops in Jaffna should have enough supplies to repulse any LTTE attack without reinforcements for at least the time it takes to get the naval base up and running again.
The bigger issue will be the blow it has against the moral of the forces and the nation as a whole, and if it was against Colombo for instance, it'll have devastating effects on the economy. That's exactly what the LTTE want.
illegal.E,
You are quite correct, in that major part of LTTE maneuvers are of 'psyops' nature. Their HQ is under threat of being overrun and they need some smoke and mirrors mind game to demoralise the forces and the population. A demoaralised population will put pressure on the govt to stop the offensives and give into their excessive demands.
They could go for an OPV or softer economic target. They have plethora of things to chose from. Best way is to assume they can hit anything, anytime any where so prepare everyone for the worse. I guess the key to confronting this every citizen, foot soldier and sailor being diligent. We are a nation of 20 or so million don't forget. It shouldnt be that hard to beat this cancer if everyone pull their weight equally. There are no room for the inefficient and corrupt. In my world I would punish them both equally firing squad because even small mistake could lead to disastrous consequences.
"We are a nation of 20 or so million don't forget. It shouldnt be that hard to beat this cancer if everyone pull their weight equally. There are no room for the inefficient and corrupt. In my world I would punish them both equally firing squad because even small mistake could lead to disastrous consequences."
well said Panhinda.
If only the leaders in this country have enough intelligence and patriotism to figure this out.fl
ranil, spot on.
The LTTE needs something dramatic. Their last few 'dramatic' attacks have involved their zlin planes. We also know they want to hit our OPVs to avenge the loss of their ships.
Is their possibility they would do an air strike and/or simaltaneous land/sea attack on a OPV?
I hope the air defence systems are operational to prevent such a scenario.
Very intresting conversations ...
I would say it is going to be a super massive attack on the Navy...It is around the corner...
We need all the SLN,SLA and SLAF men on the streets specially at night...When KAB was under attack , there were several thousand SLAF men were sleeping at the base..I understand that these brave men must get a decent sleep before anything..What I meant here is ,just like we defend Vauniya or Palally base, we need to defend all other bases with the same dedication..LTTE might be even planning to attack Panagoda..
I mentioned this fact earlier...For the KAB we need atleast a soldier every 50 meters.To defend a perimeter of 12.5km Radius, we need 250..
One of the fences at KAB that is closest to the Colombo-Negambo road is totally under dark..There is a check point around this place..This is where the Runnway ends...LTTE could penetrate the Airbase right under the nose of the POLICE around that place..That place is very close to the Lagoon too..
We need to advice everyone to be vigilent..
Tangara mate, it's human nature to to sleep when dark & that's alweays played into the ltte's ops v. well ! Every 50 meters good idea mate but, If ya sleeping son...the snake creeps unnoticed !
Any suggestions ?
True Rajarata,
But they will not be able to do the damage in their two outings, had we placed those men around the perimeter...
There wasn't enough men on the ground on those two occasions...
Atleast few guard dogs around the perimter would have saved us those close to 40 aircrafts at KAB and AAB..
Now it is all gone...We never replaced those 12 aircrafts we lost at KAB with another 12 aircrafts after 7 years..(None were replaced by the Sri Lankan either)
Sensors, anti-personnel mines and dogs plus a well lit passage with a clear field of fire from fortified bunkers.
Old stuff from many years ago will still work really well.
Hey Tanagara & Tropic T mates... did ya see my man, cerno... google earth shots of the 3 ltte air strips on his flickr site from 2003-05? whatchathink abt it ? since ya mentioning base security. I wonder how well ltte guards their bases huh ? Maybe we can learn something from them !
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