Friday, June 13, 2008

Veduthalthivu in sight as 61 Div. comes in


The Sri Lanka Army is now 5kms from Veduthalthivu sea Tiger base. Tigers are putting up a last ditch effort to prevent the advance into this strategic base. Fighting is concentrated currently in Nedunkandaal North where a 40X30 foot bunker, the largest discovered in recent history was captured.

Currently there are around 40,000 troops converging on the LTTE in Vanni from Mannar, Vavuniya and Weli Oya. These include the 58 from Mannar, 57 from Vavuniya converging on Mannar and the 59 from Weli Oya. Army Commander Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka was in the Vanni today on a tour of inspection and instruction.

The 61 Division joined the fray a few weeks ago. It too will concentrate mainly on Mannar. Sources indicated to this site that neighboring India has expressed an interest in oil explorations off the coast of Mannar.

In the Weli Oya front, the fighting is just beginning. Troops have advanced 8-10 kilometers at certain areas north of Janakapura and Kiriibbanwewa. They recently breached a line of bunkers leading upto the LTTE's famous 1-4 base (more like a jungle hideout).

The Army is not pushing very hard through Weli Oya. LTTE troop concentration (defence in-depth) is also very high in this area. It is estimated that this operation will last many months. In the meantime, operations will continue in Mannar and Vavuniya, thus surrounding Mullaithivu by land from the south and the west. More details on this operation will continue in the days to come.

Meanwhile the newly formed 3 Sinha Regiment (3SR) passed out today after a grueling training. A team of 120 Engineer Troops also passed out yesterday. Over 300 Special Forces are also preparing to pass-out end of this month.

20 comments:

Unknown said...

:)
So seems to be welioya front is on stand still...
40,000 troops!!!
Wow then Vedithelathivu should be under our wing in the Recent Monthes...
:)
seems Regular Updates Resumed...

Unknown said...

DW,
An earlier Article suggested that after capturing Palampiddi 57 Division is on to Mallavi & a section of it to North west of Mallavi...(The Article with the Map..)
Bt it seems things are not as in that Article isnt it?

Defencewire said...

su,
There is an ongoing advance into that area. This is after Tigers started withdrawing upto Mallavi and thunukkai. These areas have to be brought under control in order to isolate Mullaithivu. Mallavi is an artery to Mulaithivu Tigers. But it is true. The focus has shifted slightly back to capturing Veduthalthivu. There are some political reasons as well, as indicated here.

LKDOOD said...

Fighting in Sri Lanka kills 11 rebels, 4 soldiers

LINK

LKDOOD said...

Lankan Foreign Minister to visit India from Sunday

LINK

Unknown said...

Thank you DW.
:)
[There are some political reasons as well, as indicated here.]
Just hope affects of these will be minimum in acheving Military objectives.
Politics & Military decisions Mixed could make way to a Explosive Desastrous outcome.
I think giving the Military people make the decisions of War, would be good use as we as a Nation have learnt the blunders of our political leaders the hard way...
Anyway Still the momentum is with our forces...
:)

hemantha said...

DW,
It is nice to hear from you more often. This is great news. Please give us more in depth analysis whenever possible.

sldf said...

Fall of Veduthalthivu sea Tiger is inevitable. However, important thing is SLA must secure it's surrounding defenses before they completely lay siege to Veduthalthivu.

"300 Special Forces are also preparing to pass-out end of this month"

More bad news to LTTE leadership :)

Moshe Dyan said...

political reasons??

DS promosed that VP celebrated his LAST BIRTHDAY last year. only 5 months to go for his next birthday.

at the same time the BUDGET is due. this time CHANCES ARE MUCH HIGHER that the budget will be defeated than last year even with the weerawansa faction. then there will be an election and VERY LIKELY the president's party cannot secure the number of seats they have now. a political collapse of this sort is DEFINETELY a collapse in military operations as we saw in 2001.

the govt. must do more to manage the economy as it has many impacts on the SUSTAINABILITY of the war.

similar to outside interventions and battlefield setbacks, this can save the day for the LTTE if not managed properly SOON.

tangara said...

It is quit possible LTTE try to create mayhem by targeting passing out parades of troops..Those events need to be closely guarded secrets..I remember an year ago LTT planned to attack Diyathalawa SLA base using explosive laden truck.

SLA should take every precaution when it comes to newly recruited troops.

Further more, LTTE will try to attack buses carrying troops with claimores...

May these valient troops be protected...

LKDOOD said...

Moshe Dyan said...

political reasons??

DS promosed that VP celebrated his LAST BIRTHDAY last year. only 5 months to go for his next birthday.

--

who is DS ?

Ma Abey said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ma Abey said...

ikdood,
DS = defense secretary.
BC.

සිසිර කුමාර said...

Moshe Dyan said
[
at the same time the BUDGET is due. this time CHANCES ARE MUCH HIGHER that the budget will be defeated than last year even with the weerawansa faction. then there will be an election and VERY LIKELY the president's party cannot secure the number of seats they have now. a political collapse of this sort is DEFINETELY a collapse in military operations as we saw in 2001.
]

Final quarter of this year will be eventful and would be a period we shall never forget.

Political instability during budget may force MR to either become a dictator or hold a general election.

As we all know our people will vote anyone promises to bring down cost of living.

Present attacks on JVP members are a clear sign of govt's unwillingness to seek their support for budget.

Moshe Dyan said...

bungu,

well observed.

Sam Perera said...

DefenceWire,

When you say 5 division are converging in Mullativu, I get the feeling that it is lotmore than 40,000, in the range of 50,000-100,000. Are our divisions small compared to other countries?

Lahiru said...

Whats the model of that assault rifle which is fixed with a scope?

NOLTTE=Peace said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
NOLTTE=Peace said...

This country is full of naive put up on us by the politicians.

Lowering cost of living is every political party's main trump card.

The right thing which should be taking measures to increase,
1. Affordability
2. Living Standards

Unless there are government subsidies for everything, you can not lower cost of living overnight. Subsidies are very short-term measures.

Yes, there are certain things that we can do to lower cost of living in the long and medium term too,
1. Reduce waste and corruption in the system (can be done and sustained if there is will-power). This is a major force.
2. Increase productivity (lot of national-level effort required)
3. Break Monopolies and Oligopolies i.e. breaking Prima Monopoly in wheatflower
4. Erect barriers blocking parties making superficial profits i.e. bringing in laws to prescribe medication in generic names
5. Be smart on high-ticket purchases, expenditure, and sales and look after national interests without looking at petty personal gains i.e. when purchasing military equipment, power-plants, when selling oil rights, phosphate mining rights etc etc

Having said all, the most effective thing we can do to lower cost of living is to increase Gross Domestic Production in Value Per Unit as well as increase the Volume. That means, we should be producing High Ticket with a high premium (which would bring in higher margins) items more.

We are in an Open Economy. Markets decide the price of everything. Therefore, all the measures you implement to lower costs are short-to medium term.

However, as a nation what we need to do is to increase relative per-capita income compared to the other nations. That means lot and lot of exports (both goods, services and brain power) needs happen. That is the only sustainable long-term measure in reducing cost of living while having all the other measures to lower cost of living is in place (not subsidies).

We should look into increase our goods and services exports. One of the best long-term measures we can do is to invest in quality education, and giving all the young generation to obtain at least university level 'quality' (not archaic) education. It naturally allows them to command much higher Rs. rate per hour for their brain utilisation.

Premadasa did a great job by at least giving a medium-term solution to increase affordability of people through 1000 garment factory program. After that no one was able to create that type of mega initiative, which could take it to the next level.

IT, Medical Research, R&D of all sorts, BPO and other related services could all contribute to increasing per capita income of people. However, there is no massive facilitation or initiatives taking place.

I think that MR created the Ministry for Special Projects to do that kind of projects. But the one who undertook that was not interested in the nation other than his pocket and his own fish business of allowing our fish to be harnessed by Japanese trawlers without paying a penny to Sri Lanka.

People should understand that lowering cost of living cannot be made by magic or changing a political party. That is the leader of the nation who should have the vision and courage to take the initiatives and properly follow-up.

Ranil has not got it -period. He is an utter loser and a traitor of the nation. This loser would sell the whole nation to LTTE and any other foreign country that Ranil worships.
But one day I am very optimistic that Sajith Premadasa would do it. In my thinking, after MR era, Karu Jayasuriya should fill a void for sometime until Sajith is ready. Unfortunately, Sajith has not yet got the maturity and resilience that MR has.
MR should now allocate more budgets to education. Increase the number of Universities and quality of their output. Allow universities to get fee-paid students and fund the other students through fees received from fee-paid students. Provide R&D subsidies for outsourced R&D functions. Encourage foreign companies to invest in Sri Lanka. Invest more monies on investment promotion. So many things can be done. Meanwhile he should be focusing on reducing waste and corruption too. I applaud him for braking Prima Monopoly.

Red_Alert said...

political and military objectives can go hand in hand.. Assuming that oil reserves in Mannar do exist, this could help fill our coffers. The questions that remain are the ability to safeguard the resources in MAnnar from the LTTE (as well as... safeguarding the monetary revenues from the politicos)

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