LTTE directed artillery fire in to several key locations in the Northern Jaffna peninsular,forcing the high level defence delegation to fly back Colombo,abandoning the planned ceremonial opening of the Army's latest version- the Mechanized Infantry officials said.
Defence Secretary Ghotabahaya Rajapaksha,Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshell Donald Perera and Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka were on the board of SLAF air craft to Palaly,when LTTE start pouring artillery to peninsular this morning, senior military officials told defencewire.
At least 15 artillery shells fell in to Palaly,Kankasanthurai and Keeramalai area according to initial reports.
All air crafts heading towards the military controlled Jaffna peninsular are diverted as precautionary step,including the one which taken the High level defence officials.
They later landed at Katunayake Air Port,military officials further added.
Monday, January 28, 2008
LTTE fire artillery to Jaffna-Defence officials fly back
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It's high time VIPs do not travel in one aircraft so that in case of accident/or otherwise we do not loose so many key people that will effect the country at this key juncture. Imagine loosing Defence sec, two Arm Forces Chiefs! You cannot take these kind of risks!
The Royal family in UK will never go in the same plane when they travel!
This is not the first time this has happened is it ? Why does our Defence top brass all fly on the same aircraft? Its similar to putting all the eggs in one basket.
What 'IF' the aircraft goes down due to hostile fire or technical fault we would be losing the Defence Secretary, Chief of Defence staff and the Army Commander all in one go. What a morale boaster would that be to the enemy ?
A similar incident occurred when a Helicopter carrying defence top brass along with former dep. Defence Minister Anurudha Ratwathe crash landed in LTTE teritory. They managed to escape. The Tigers were later learnt to have quipped something to the effect of - "You had the prey in you mouth but you couldn't eat it"
DF-
Can we please have an update about with latest from all FDL's. Currently blog has not updated related to this for few days.
Thank you again with on going help
hmm. does it end?
Hi Guys,
I got this as an email through one of my friend. not sure whether its true or not. But better take precautions...
Hi Friends,
A cousin of mine told this to me. This had happened to my cousins friends.
On last weekend which came with the Thaipongal (January 13, 14, 15) some of my cousins friends have gone on a trip to Kataragama.
Few guys organized this and on their way back they saw a old lady who was around 45-50 waving her hands to stop their vehicle somewhere in Matara.
Since she looked weak and old they stopped and asked why and this lady had weakly said that if possible to drop her at Matara. She spoke in Sinhala.
So these guys have taken her in to the van and she looked normal. Near Matara she had asked where these guys were going and they had told that they are going home to Colombo.
Then she had requested them to drop her at Galle.
And in Galle she had asked to take her to Colombo. This seemed weird to these guys and they had discussed in Tamil language to drop her in Galle- they spoke in Tamil coz they thought she was a Sinhalese.
Suddenly she had removed her facemask. To everyone’s surprise, she was about the age of 36-38.
And she had opened her chest and showed the bomb and asked them whether to blow it up or whether they are gonna take her to Wattala.
Fearing to this these guys agreed to drop her at Wattala and when getting down she had told to go to the police if they wanted.
These guys had straightly gone to the police and informed them of wat happened. The police had told that this was the 21st time such an incidence was reported during this month.
Now my friends can u imagine the number of suicide bombers who are in Colombo as at today?
And my advice for u is please do not take unknown people in to ur vehicles any where in Sri Lanka. U would be taken to custody as a supporter for terrorism or ul die if she blew her self.
Pls share this with all ur friend as I did.
Thanks
rutherfed
no offense mate but i think that sounds like a fabrication...
These cadres operate in highly secretive ways not only to ensure they achieve their individual objective but also to safe guard their handlers and the cells they operate from... And i'm sure ltte can easily arrange for transport and it's highly unlikely for a bomber to wander around from town to town with the jackets on...
I'm no expert and i can be wrong... :)
DW
Isn't it high time that we look into taking out these long range guns from hitting palali base.
Sorry if i'm talking utter rubbish but is there anyway we can send a LRP team and get coordinates for these guns and then make an accurate SLAF raid with GPS guided munitions...if we have em that is
Especially if they are using underground bunkers to keep the guns and tow them out only when needed it might be very difficult to take them out via conventional attacks...
any thoughts?
rutherfed-
Below have given away the tamilnet kind of reporting.....
Did not have to take the mask off or show the chest at all... Could have continue the ride all the way...
"
Suddenly she had removed her facemask. To everyone’s surprise, she was about the age of 36-38.
And she had opened her chest and showed the bomb and asked them whether to blow it up or whether they are gonna take her to Wattala."
Sri Lanka says weekend death toll 79, 'most rebels'
LINK
Lankan air force bombs LTTE base, 40 killed in clashes
LINK
"Suddenly she had removed her facemask. To everyone’s surprise, she was about the age of 36-38.
"
I would doubt this story, it has all the earmarks of one of those hoax type chain letters, are you telling me a group of people on a long trip didn't notice a face mask? Or is the LTTE setting up a Hollywood type special effects department to create masks so convincing as to fool people in real life? Not even the Hollywood masks can do that :)
jack,
I agree with you. And I don't think it is the usual practice for suicide bombers to wear the jacket until they are ready to take their target. They are usually transported seperately. (am i right Defencewire?)
This is not the first time this happened. It looks like someone inside or living close to the airfield is monitoring aircraft movements out of Katunayake. This could be the same cell that monitor bombing sorties and gives advance warning to Kilinochi LTTE HQ. Monitoring of landline/mobile/satellite communications emanating from the vicinity of the airfield just after take off would reveal whether this is the case.
"This is not the first time this happened. It looks like someone inside or living close to the airfield is monitoring aircraft movements out of Katunayake. This could be the same cell that monitor bombing sorties and gives advance warning to Kilinochi LTTE HQ. Monitoring of landline/mobile/satellite communications emanating from the vicinity of the airfield just after take off would reveal whether this is the case."
lastweek 6 people in katunayake taken into custody in this regard
WTF!!
Boosting morale and ceremony are important factors but sending all the top brass in one flight is askin for f'cken trouble.
No photo op is worth that sort of risk , The tragedy of wiping out the top guys would be devastating.
I have a feeling the LTTE are going to use a suicide/homicide kamikaze plane ( explosive laden )attack ,on the presidential and Military headquarters.The propaganda value and actual destructive damage would be immense.
Unless those Zlins are detected and intercepted whilst airborne they will still be able to nosedive into their chosen target and cause immense damage.It is the sort of desperate innovative tactic the LTTE will chose.
After all they sacrificed 22 odd homicide bombers in the Anurath'Base attack.
The LTTE never rush into doing anything . They always
pause-->plan-->execute.
We time and time again get lulled into false sense of security every time there is not much activity from the LTTE.This is when they are at their most dangerous. Never under-estimate your enemy , it is better to overestimate and act accordingly.
30 years have proven this right.
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