Heavy Trappings and the Days of the Sniper

Army Intelligence officers in Vavuniya are disgusted by the inaction of the Directorate of Military Intelligence when one if its officers was wrongfully accused of disappearing 76 civilians in the area by Vavuniya Magistrate M. Ilanchelian recently.

The MI officers claim they have no support from their seniors when the Magistrate summons them and blasts them in person, without any charges presented in a court of law or evidence presented against them. They are also disgusted with some members of the Police Crime Branch in Vavuniya for placing the blame entirely on them, even when assassinations are done by the LTTE Pistol Gang. The 'naming and shaming' of individual officers openly is a severe blow to Military Intelligence personnel and risks their personal safety while also discouraging young officers from fulfilling their counter insurgency duties in future.

Meanwhile, a hartal declared by the LTTE in Vavuniya was disrupted by members of PLOTE, under the leadership of 'PLOTE Soori'. The paramilitary organization had padlocked all shops that did not open on its orders on the day of the LTTE hartal.

The Sri Lanka Army, investigating yesterday's artillery strike on Thaladi St. Sebastian's Roman Catholic Church have identified that an informant had directed the strike when soldiers were engaged in a shramadana campaign to clean and whitewash the Church premises ahead of the forthcoming church feast. All artillery shells fired at the church had come from Northwest of Giant Tank (Parappakadaththan, an unliberated area) 16-18 kilometers from Thaladi. No civilians or clergy were injured in the attack. The Army claims it overheard LTTE communications indicating that 13 of its cadres were killed in the counter attack.

Meanwhile, troops moving ahead of their FDL in Weli Oya last Monday captured a LTTE bunker-line comprising 12 bunkers at Kiriibbanwela. Over a dozen Tigers were killed in the attack. SLA also suffered heavy casualties during the charge, when booby traps fixed from unexploded ordnance were detonated near the line. One officer and 9 men were killed in this attack and another 15 were injured, some seriously. SLA gained the upper-hand in an attack on an LTTE bunker-line at Kokkuthuduwai on the same day.

The advance into Adampan has been delayed due to manual clearance of mines and booby traps by Army Engineers. The 800m stretch from Pallaikuli to Adampan is heavily mined and troops now dug in are taking steps to remove the trappings systematically. The Parappakandal and Vannakulam areas in Mannar is also heavy with Tiger and SLA sniper and counter-sniper teams. Tigers are targeting troops removing dead Tigers and also Army Engineers removing booby traps while Army Snipers are hunting down LTTE snipers. On Monday and today, SLA snipers killed 7 Tigers in this area alone.