Ilantheevan Captured
The Sri Lanka Army captured the southern part of Adampan Town today when it overran Tiger fortifications at Ilantheevan. Despite soggy ground conditions, heavy rains and floods troops are continuing their operations with equal intensity.
LTTE fortifications have largely encompassed civilian houses. These houses are fortified with rare timber like large trunks of teak and often have underground bunkers. Civilians are forced to remain inside by the LTTE while the Army is advancing.
In addition to above the ground conspicuous structures like civilian houses are other camouflaged trenches and pillboxes. Many of these stagnate with water, but young Tiger cadres are forced to man them and often die inside them as well.
Tigers have also painstakingly booby trapped foot bridges, culverts etc using mortar and artillery shells. The Army defuses these whenever possible and whenever it is not possible, they blast through them using recoilless guns (RCLs) like the one in the picture below.
The Type 78 82mm recoilless gun, which was introduced in the late 1970s, is now replaced by the Type 98The SLAF believes more LTTE assets maybe hidden close to the location and will attempt to bomb any units attempting to remove such assets from the area. The SLAF and Military Intelligence believes it will take at least one more day of observations and ground intelligence to confirm the damage to the target acquired.
22 comments:
i'm loving it.
it seems SLAF is little by little taking a lead role in proactive destruction of tiger positions and assets.
the gradual improvement of the SLAF is worth a case study.
May God Bless All Our Security Forces.
Weapons dump:
I dont believe many of such frequent reports are true--simply because after one or two air hits (2006)any org woth its name is not going to a)maintain 'dumps'at any one place but rather scatter in small portions b)Keep it underground in bunkers c)Shift it to a new location to put off moles.
Probably it was more likely a known rebel training area or such, but of course the headline is more catchy :)
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Propaganda War:
My personal exp away from area of conflict: The GoSL/GoSL-affiliated propaganda in the net( i.e. news/blogs/web archives) outstrips LTTE-affiliated propaganda by leaps and bounds in terms of volume.However GoSL propaganda are often low quality with more hyperbole and less substance. It also tend to inadvertantly expose 'soft'racism in many writings.Pro-LTTE publications usually have a more measured writing style though unrelenting on a separate homeland & human rights abuses.
However I am not very sure about the audio-viusal comparison.If You tube is any indication , Pro-ltte videos seem to have some predominance over pro-GoSL ones by volume.
* Re battlefield photographers--These are found in any Professional military and are expected to perform the exact purpose which DW has ascribed to them --i.e. propaganda to make your side look good and make the opponent look bad:) .Often battlefield photography are the most courageous and riskiest of all war-related activities and are unsung heroes.I am sure SLDF has got them too?
'The GoSL/GoSL-affiliated propaganda in the net( i.e. news/blogs/web archives) outstrips LTTE-affiliated propaganda by leaps and bounds in terms of volume.However GoSL propaganda are often low quality with more hyperbole and less substance. It also tend to inadvertantly expose 'soft'racism in many writings.Pro-LTTE publications usually have a more measured writing style though unrelenting on a separate homeland & human rights abuses.'
you are pretty stupid if you are comparing this fight (both on the battlefield and the media) as between two equally matched organizations - the government on one side and the LTTE on the other, and thus expecting to see both views carefully balanced in the media. Remember it is sri lankans expressing their views on one side, and a few select members of an internationally banned terrorist group expressing their views on the other side. And you are still surprised that there are more articles or views expressed favoring a one-srilanka?
i always find it funny when these foreign so called journalists/ analysts, who've never been to SL or properly experienced the effects of terror in their motherland start commentating on our terrorist issue. STD, I guess its nothing more than something of academic importance to you, probably covering this conflict constitutes your thesis or something. Well, all I can say is just fuck off and get another conflict to cover, this one's too complicated for this intellectually challenged disciple.
lamak,
I think you got a big chip on your shoulders--itching to fight and seeing motives where there is none;))
Hit them... Hit them hard.. Hit them very very hard...
Well done SL Armed Forces, and thanks to intelligence sources (and countries) for making attack possible.
Perhaps we need a few more "trojan horses" that need to be delivered to the Wanni. Need to make good use of all the trucks that deliver essential items (rice, petrol, diesel, kerosene, medicines etc.), particularly NGO and TNA vehicles. If we are creative, the possibilities are endless...
f
hi guys!
it seems you all loving every single mission by the armed forces against the tigers whether its a minor or a major.and the GoSL claims its all 100% success.
so why its taking so long to wipe out the tigers or atleast to enter Vanni. this being going on for the last two years.
atleast give it a serious thought now you idiots.the battle fornt in Vanni is not what your GoSL claims.its different.
It must be scary to think that all Sri Lankans, irrespective of differences are backing one stance by a single govt, and that to eradicate the LTTE by any means. That should not be happening this late in the protracted conflict. All Sri Lankans should be fatigued and ready to lie down and die; Of course the need to give into a seperate state instead should be automatically a bonus.
That hasn't happened. Instead the usually easy going, cricket crazy Sri Lankans have opted to fight on, instead of giving into its inevitability of a percieved karma.
Some of you who think the Sinhalese should understand the tamils to end this conflict, have got it wrong.
We don't need to. If you look at the numbers and figure out who is disappearing rapidly, the answer becomes obvious; there's nothing to discuss.
Even simply destroying structures of an organization has the debilitating effect of wiping off all semblences of its existance. At some point even its most committed followers begin to doubt the reasoning and question whether it continues to exist or not. That usually is the beginning and swift end for most organizations, particularly ones which are dependent on enforcement for its operations.
As we are already seeing, the numbers to defect will start to increase as threat perception shifts in the minds of most.
SLG has got its strategies right.
ts,
I most certainly understand your sentiment. I also want to extend your frame to encompass all patriotic Sri Lankans. The time has come to transcend racial barriers and unite against LTTE threat to our country. Every citizen in our country has equal rights to live in Sri Lanka. We need to develop a common bond with all anti LTTE and anti sparatist camps. In the recent past, some voices were raised as to TMVP's sincerity when they talked about STF. That was a good moment for all of us to consider TMVP as our team and address their concerns like we would address the concerns of any other elected political team. In coming months and years, we will get many such opportunities to do so and we should embrace them with open arms, support them, protect them, defend them, and most importantly respect them for their will to live in a unified country with dignity.
Thanks DW for the update,
One note,
I don’t think we use the 82mm RCL, SLA chiefly uses the 106mm RCL in BN and Brg. SW arms. Most of the 106mm RCLs we use might be from Pakistan.
But long time back...when Gen. Kobbakaduwa was in office, I saw a pic of a BJ2020 with what looked like a Type-75 105mm mounted on it, rolling out of a LST somewhere. (the PRC still have some typr-75 in service with some AB and Reserve units ) May be you could fine out??
Check out the image of a coupla Mig29s I found;
http://srilankaairforce.blogspot.com/
The picture is nice, whether we need'em or not.
On the issue of communication or propaganda, there are several purposes. Some of which are:
(1) To raise the morale of the SL military forces
(2) To keep popular support for the war going within the general population of SL (military recruitment, patriotic fervor)
(3) To demoralize the LTTE
(4) To confuse the LTTE by planting false stories (double agents and false stories about military plans)
(5) To demonize the LTTE in the eyes of the international community and to gain the support of the international community for SL's cause
I think the Govt has done a decent job as far as domestic propaganda. What is lacking is propaganda for international consumption. Just like the Israelis, every suicide bombing needs to be highlighted. The west needs to understand that the war against the LTTE is part of the Global war on terrorism. It is a fight of a democratic state agianst an brutal terrorist organization, and that it has
nothing to do with federalism, minority rights, self-determination, etc, etc.
Worrying development! Viral outbreak amongst troops in the northern was zone:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/30/content_7883448.htm
Hey,
Does any of you know how V. Prabhakaran became Paripaharan, and the story behind it? Paripaharan suits him better, sounds like "paharaya"!
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2008/03/30/sec01.asp-battle front update.
May god bless all our troops.
Heavy Fighting Kills 71 Rebels In Sri Lanka
LINK
nemesis,
We got some new RCLs from China along with APCs and MBTs recently. Pakistan's weapons were good but very expensive (they are reselling, not producing). They have been useful in dire needs (MBRLs), but not when other countries can sell us for cheaper direct manufactured weapons.
Thanks DW,
Thats good news! Keep em comming.
sun tzu,
This was not the first weapons dump hit. Last year Imran Pandian regiment's main dump was hit. Its not as shady as you think it is.
SLA does not have suicide cameramen in its rank.Military training in an established army focuses on reducing casualties. Sacrifices of soldiers in such blatant terms as sending them in the first suicidal wave of attackers armed only with a camera is considered inhuman and unacceptable to a military. Despite its strict military code, for example, a Sergeant can takeover command and relieve a Captain of duty, with the support of his platoon, if the Captain is acting like a suicidal maniac unnecessarily sending his men to their death. There is still a value system left, even though the task is to kill. This is the difference between the Tigers and the Army and it has worked to the disadvantage of the Army sometimes. But the value system still stands as we are looking at an establishment that will remain long after the LTTE is gone.
It also goes against all principles of war (including Sun Tzu's). It is not the way of an established military to sacrifice soldiers in battlefield for crude propaganda goals. An Army functions within a system that has other established methods such as psy ops and in case of a democracy, politicians elected separately from the military to address the 'heart and minds' issue.
Unfortunately for the Army, and more often than not, politicians have not been pulling their weight. Some SLA have also made mistakes, admittedly like the Kokadicholai massacre. But overall, the situation has improved in leaps and bounds as far as the Army is concerned.
Illanteevan, or Ilantaivan
was known as LANDEVANYA ලන්ෙදවනය
during duch times. Capturing these ares
also involves establishing the historical origins of these places.
Note that "Ilantai" and "Illanta" have
no meaning in Tamil.
When you write place names like Killinochchi and Poornaryn etc., please note that there are old sinhala names for all these places. Thus we have
Poornaryn PUNRANNA පුන්රන්න
Killinochchi GIRAANIKKE ගිරානික්ක
Visvamadu BISAVMADUVA බිසෝමඩුව
and so on.
Thosands of such names are given in:
http:/www.geocities.com/place.names
In fact, the above information is taken from the above website, with thanks to the university academics who have worked hard to establish all these details.
You are invited you to
check them out and use them in your
write ups, with the Tamil name or english name in parenthesis: For example:
BataKotte (Vadukkodei) බටකොට්ෙට
Alimankada (Elephant Pass)
Muramaale (Muhamalai)
Mooladoova (Mulliathive)
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