Thursday, February 14, 2008

Trincomalee under new LTTE Guerrilla Threat

A group of 20 LTTE cadres who appeared last 12th in a resettled Muslim village east of Peraru Jungles robbed a large stock of dry rations and hauled them back in a tractor as the Sri Lanka Navy and Police detachment at Kallampattu in Kuchchaveli turned a blind eye.

The Tigers who are starving without food inside the Peraru Jungle, came in a tractor with its lights turned off around 7.20pm and went straight into three local boutiques at Vadarikulam Muslim village. 10 cadres surrounded one boutique while five others went to another. One lone Tiger took rations from the third. Two boutiques belonged to two Muslim women from the resettled village constructed by AHEAD NGO with CORDAID NGO funding. The other was owned by a Muslim man.

The Tigers then handed over thousand rupee notes to the boutique owners. One got Rs. 15,000 total, the other Rs. 10,000 and the third got Rs.1000 total. When villagers, who were earlier summoned to a meeting by the Kuchaveli Police to warn against this group of Tiger who, intelligence reports had indicated, had entered the Peraru East jungle, complained of the Tiger Team, the Police had handed over the case to the Navy detachment. The Navy, which withdraws its road picketing after 6pm, refrained from engaging the Tigers.

The Tigers are at least 70 guerrillas strong in this area and have apparently been starving without food for quite some time. They were forced to move from place to place by Navy Special Forces (SBS). The rations taken away by them were mostly canned food, rice, lentils and sugar. The boutique owners, in their statements to the Police have claimed that the Tigers paid only half the value of the goods taken away. If this is true, how three small local boutiques in this village had such large stocks remains to be seen. The manner in which the Tigers had walked straight into the shops suggest they had done their homework before 'shopping'.

This is a familiar pattern we have observed for many years in the East under Paduman and Karuna. The Muslim villages, which act as a buffer between government and LTTE dominated areas were frequented by Tigers for supplies. It was almost a small economy by its own merit in many sch villages. This allowed former LTTE Eastern leaders like Paduman and Karuna to maintain a small group of men, 'living off the land' for sustained guerrilla offensives, attacks in the south and to provide logistical support for small troop movements from Mulaithivu to Yala.

The combined failure of the security establishment in the area has already strained the relationship between the Police and the Navy. Trincomalee, like Colombo, has a special security forces coordinator to quell emergencies. But his powers are limited to the Town and Gravets area only.

The Vadarikulam village is only 2km from Kuchchaveli town. It is situated along the border of Thiriyaya and Kuchchaveli. Kuchchaveli is only 30km by road to Trincomalee Town. Along jungle routes, it is much closer. The Peraru Jungle is criss-crossed by gravel and cart roads built by NEIAP (North Eastern Irrigation and Agricultural Project) during the Cease-fire. These routes are now enabling the Tigers to move in large numbers in tractors and other basic off-road vehicles. Earlier this month, the Tigers were ambushed in Peraru West and North sectors. Now they have crept into Peraru East, which is ominous to Sinhala villages like Gomarankadawela and Thiriyaya for example.

Meanwhile the Special Task Force, after a series of failures to locate Tigers in Kanjikudiaru, have yesterday discovered an LTTE weapons dump inside Kanchanakudah jungle, north of Tsunami devastated Komari village situated along the Akkaraipattu-Potuvil road. The Tigers maintained a large base in the interior of Akkaraipattu at Pavattai before the east was 'cleared'. The cache of arms recovered included close to 100,000 rounds of T-56 ammunition and 4 25kg Claymore Mines.

30 comments:

CodeRed said...

I think these isolated LTTE bunch was supported by some local villageres around the jungle.Or may be forced to support them.Its very hard to tackle them down if they have that kinda support from villagers.I think this is the same happened in southern areas such as Thanamalvilla.

LKDOOD said...

Sri Lanka accuses international rights groups of bias towards LTTE

LINK

Cathay Pacific to resume Flights to Colombo

LINK

India’s assurance to Sri Lanka on economic support

LINK

Renegade! said...

Defencewire,

Looks like the government assertion,that the entire east,has been "cleared",is not that true.coz there seem to be a lot of Tigers moving around in the east..what the hell is karuna & co(KF) doing??..sleeping??..the STF/SLA,should coordinate joint operations with the KF,to flush out Tigers..what i feel,is that the Tigers have managed to maintain some level of rapport,with the civil population of the east,probably for logistics,food rations,hiding of weapon stocks,cadres,etc,,all for a fee..

Renegade! said...

Guys,

Any pix on the new fleet of 6 F-7G Fighter jets,we got down from china??..

Renegade! said...

Defencewire,

About these snipers..when SLA combat engineers are engaged in clearing of mines,booby traps,etc why don't we have an Mi-24 or 2 hovering just forward of where they are clearing,in order to take out any Tiger sniper teams or Mortar teams??..is this practically possible,or not?..after all,the Mi-24's can be forward-deployed from Anuradhapura AB,to say an army field headquarters,and can launch attacks/patrol from there..

LKDOOD said...

Lankan Navy Chief seeks cooperation to check LTTE

LINK

R*fard&C*ble said...

Both "Shyam" and "Renegade" are the same.

This LTTE sh*thead earlier came in the name of Rifard into this forum, fishing for SLDF info.

Still, this LTTE sh*thead doing the same thing asking questions about SLDF confidential information.

Beware of this LTTE Shemale.

LKDOOD said...

LTTE’s “Radha” Military Base Bombed

LINK

LKDOOD said...

25 rebels killed in Sri Lanka clashes

LINK

Jambudipa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jambudipa said...

Defencewire,

There has been an explosion of special forces groups of late. We now have SF, Commando, SBS, STF and another group for the AF. I feel we are following US with specialist groups coming out of their ears such as the Marines, Green Berets, Seals, SWAT and so on. The funny thing with all fancy groups, it was the British SAS alone which spearheaded specialist ops in Gulf War I and II. SAS exploits in Gulf war has been legendary.

My point being, a significant part of the tasks these groups perform are very similar. There has to be some consolidation at least with SF and Commandos. The STF has become utterly useless and I think they should be absorbed into regular military. Although the SBS are slightly more specialised, there is no reason why they cannot function as a sub group within one specialised special forces regiment. The underlying focus being quality not quantity which I guess British SAS is founded on.

Srilankan said...

chamal,
Hold on bro..i fear that newspapers are controlling the stories and as usual we are all "jumping the gun".we need to find question independent sources w.r.t this

Defencewire said...

panhinda,

I refrained once from making comparisons between the various Special Forces units in the Security Forces due to my personal bias towards SF 1,2, and 3, having worked with them at a personal level. However, the differences are obvious. SF 1,2 or 3 don't perform VIP security duties. They have and will, for the next several decades, remain in the jungles fighting. Commando and STF on the other hand are deployed massively for VIP duties. Air Force Regimental SF has a specific purpose, which is to protect SLAF bases, guard vital installations and protect their Commander. They are a very young unit and are yet to come into their own.

SBS is the same as 2SF. They are trained in amphibious operations, jungle warfare etc. After SF and Commando regiment, these guys have a good standing. STF was one of the best counter-insurgency units in the 80s and 90s. They are, however, deployed all over, from Mannar to Galle. Many of them are on VIP duties, protecting politicians to Magistrates. This takes a toll as it has with Commando. They also don't have good leaders. Some of their leaders, including the one who was killed near his house in Kandy, used to be good friends with Tigers and even paid tribute to dead cadres at their funerals in Batticaloa in 2004.

The most serious of problems in units other than 1,2,and 3 SF is leadership, or lack of it. Commandos lost some pride after the demise of Captain Hashan, who we believe was captured after an amphibious landing went wrong due to an intel leak. However, occasionally, as with guys like Colonel Bandara (Thoppigala fame)and others have started breaking out.

The SF has always had good leadership starting from Retired Maj. Gen Gamini Hettiaarachchi, Col Lafir, Captain Wijemal etc, who were either wounded or killed while leading from the front. Success in the battlefield have also increased their morale, which is the second ingredient. The most important thing is that no one dares to use this unit for VIP protection and other mediocre duties.

So its not really a problem of separation of role or proliferation of SF units. Its a problem of leadership and morale. Each unit has a special role to play in this war, but poor leadership, lack of morale, lack of proper focus, pampering VIP jobs etc, have all played a part.

Unknown said...

DF, I am sorry to pick on you, but the way you report story is too funny.

You claimed Tigers "robbed" a large stock of dry rations and also you claimed that they have paid The Tigers then handed over thousand rupee..One got Rs. 15,000 the other Rs. 10,000 and the third got Rs.1000.

What is this? a new definition for Robberry?

sldf said...

Defencewire, thanks for the update. You have pint point a very serious threat here especially since area of concern is only 30-35km to Trincomalee Town. LTTE can easily turn this area into tiger dominated area and threaten Trincomalee Town and Naval base. Why doesn’t the Navy completely take control of these areas and deploy Navy's SBS and other naval troops to counter this treat? If this threat is not neutralize in time and we can have some serious threats to Trincomalee. Even some serious presence of naval troops will deter LTTE to move freely at their own will within this area. Any thoughts?

sldf said...

"leadership and morale."

Defencewire,

Even though I have little or no knowledge of Army's SF regiments. I strongly believe proper leadership as the most important ingredient to success of these specialize members of the army (not just SF, but through out the whole army as well). Good to hear that SF, least is bless with the right men to lead the regiments. Who is the officer who was killed in Kandy? I of course have heard some good things about Maj. Gen Gamini Hettiaarachchi.

What's the role of MI (MIC) in the operations of the SF members? I hope and prey MI has got proper leadership now after the demise of Lt. Colonel Tuan Muthaliff of the 1st Battalion MI. Looking at some of the recent successes MI is seems to be doing their homework for now. But would appreciate if you can shed some light without revealing info that would benefit LTTE members.

londonistan said...

Silva,

It's what they call here in England 'daylight robbery'!

Srilankan said...

The LTTE launch their squadron of B-2 bombers against colombo..
Breaking news!
"colombo has been turned into a fireball"

defenceAnalyst said...

silva,
If LTTE paid for only half of what they took, isn't that a robbery?

Unknown said...

do you see any good will among a terrorist organization?

I certinly things that they gave money in the first plase is an insult to the whole community.

And whats up with the Navy standing by and leaving them? it makes me wonder if they are not LTTE but Karuna members. Because EAST has been librated. There is NO LTTE in East. Period.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Srilankan said...

Defencewire you know silva is also ram

LKDOOD said...

India to help Sri Lanka build power plant

LINK



Tamil Tigers Exploit Exiles Abroad to Fund Insurgency

LINK

LKDOOD said...

HOT ZONE : Chapter 13: Sri Lanka

LINK

Unknown said...

Srilankan,

what are you trying to say? do you have the balls to Talk to Silva directly?

Unknown said...

defenceAnalyst, certinly! its still a robbery, but the LTTE that we are used to don't do that.

That makes me wonder...

Jambudipa said...

Defencewire,

The commandos after 10 months of rigorous combat training is put in charge of VIP security? There is something really wrong here. In addition to the issue with moral and leadership, its far from being efficient use of a valuable resource.

Recenlty there has been a few impressive operations carried out by SF. The Vakarai operation where they hid under water overnight and stormed LTTE defenses at daybreak is a notable one. There was another I think where just 2 platoons held back and defeated LTTE attack with over 200 carders. Would you be able to describe in some detail what happened in these operations?

Unknown said...

http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-31938520080214?sp=true

Malaysia's ethnic Indians to vent anger at the polls

There are many Indians among the plantation workers who have helped to make the sector a success," said Anand, the plantation worker, adding that his salary had grown to 13.50 ringgit ($4) a day from 6.50 ringgit when he first began work in 1980.

For those who thought that it was tamil pride that was the reason for protest in Malaysia should realise that most tamils there are of the same origins and face the same living standards as those of the plantations in Sri Lanka.

RomeoAlphaFoxtrot said...

DefenceWire, thanks for the info and insight to SF in the SLDF.

My question is regarding the Special Air Borne Forces (SABF) of the SLAF. you can see these guys patroling the streets of Colombo and the area around the airforce headquarters. They carry uzi sub machine guns, and have the real SF look. How different are the SABF from the RSF? is the SABF restricted to VIP protection like the commandos and the STF? Dont they play any combat role ?

Defencewire said...

panhinda,
The Vakarai attack you mentioned was launched by one Platoon of SF also trained in amphibious assault. They were deployed after regular infantry were bogged down after breaching the LTTE's 1st FDL in the area. The Amphibious Assault team got close to Vakarai town by water and waited till dark and early morning, as I recall, entered Vakarai Town. Tigers tried to fight but 40 SF has the firepower and skill of 120 ordinary soldiers. After a brief fight the Tigers withdrew.

I am not sure about the other thing you mentioned. perhaps you could refresh my memory. Such a thing did indeed happen in the outskirts of Jaffna when we were facing Ceaseless waves.

romeoaphafoxtrot,
These guys are trained in maduru Oya SF base. But I am not sure whether they are battle-proven. This is the true test of mettle.

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