Friday, July 18, 2008

Sea Tigers trapped in a Gulf

Gulf of Mannar and Pallikuda- Click to enlarge
The Sri Lanka Army's 58 Division, spearheaded by 2 Commando, commenced its advance towards Iluppakadavai, along the A-32 Mannar-Pooneryn road, managing to advance 2kms without major incidents by this evening. Illuppakadavai is situated around 22kms North of Mannar or 5kms North of Veduttaltivu and has some Sea Tiger activity in the area.

Mi-24 Helicopter Gunships of the SLAF, operating in support missions for ground troops, struck a group of Sea Tiger installations at Illupakadavai today afternoon. As the advance towards Illuppakadavai commenced, intelligence sources have received information that Sea Tigers have moved its vessels and other assets to Pallikuda, Pooneryn. Pallikuda (not Pallikudah) is a coastal village situated North of the Gulf of Mannar.

If this information is accurate, it then means that Tiger boats and other maritime assets transportable only by sea are trapped in the Gulf of Mannar and are now virtually surrounded by the Navy who hold sway in the small Islets around the Jaffna Peninsula. The only option available to the Tigers is to redeploy its assets in the Kilali Lagoon, by hiding and relaunching them from Pooneryn or to smuggle them towards Chalai.

The Sea Tiger retreat from Veduttaltivu seemed well organized at times, but at others, hasty. Several large dump-trucks used to move earth, a Mitsubishi Canter lorry and a few motorbikes, which could have assisted the retreat were left behind by the Tigers, perhaps in fear of being targeted by elite Commandos or the SLAF along the A-32.

65 comments:

serendib said...

Thanks for Update!
Hope that SL Navy and SLAF would look into this asap.

koombiya said...

AF should use the UAV to track these and bomb these to smetherines....

well done, SL heroes. May you have the blessings of the Tripple Gem.

still long way to go though.
keep sharp. keep realy sharp.
a trapped tiger can become a little more dangerous.

just round'em up, and blow'em up, before they get any chance.

Jambudipa said...

http://www.ltteps.org/

why all with drooping heads? Adele is still alive!

Unknown said...

thanks for the update DW,

any news on the MOD request?

LKDOOD said...

3km to Illuppakadavai

LKDOOD said...

thanks for the update DW

lankanews said...

Army Reaches The Coast Again

Strategy Page

Gringo said...

["Sea Tigers trapped in a Gulf"
]

It's harvesting times, boys... Kill each one of them.

Never ever forget the wailings of the loved ones of the victims of LTTE terrorists.

Just Grin & go.

kuttu said...

"Sea Tigers trapped in a Gulf"

oh..poor tigers

i'm crying...hehe

operations are underway with supervision from Col. Soosai

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

"It's harvesting times, boys... Kill each one of them."
_____________________________

Miss gringo

why not join up & get the action....

too scared ?

stay home & be a keyboard hero.....hehe

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

The biggest sea tiger assets on water are their gunboats.They are kept on land when not in operations or training.They have attacked Mannar/around Mannar seas multiple times & retreated safely recently.So the word ' trapped' is a misnomer.
So both the June and August predictions of LTTE destruction has been duds.Next is end-2008 deadline.
This war is a do or die one for both LTTE & GoSL.
The GoSL can afford to fail, but if LTTE does so that would be its end.In which case I expect another Tamil insurgency to develop with a new name but constituted by a lot of the present-day 2nd and 3rd-rung ltte members.The present leaders may go into exile or run underground.This may be LTTEs plan B in case of annihilation?
A new org with new leadership would be a much more difficult fish to fry internationally by GoSL, and the story of ltte may repeat itself at a lesser scale?

Q.Who controls Iranaitivu islet and what are the assets there?

LKDOOD said...

5000 LTTE left : Army Chief

how many are there ??

kuttu said...

dude

defence.lk juice drinker

LAST YEAR-Army Boss:

5000 tigers left

NOW-Army Boss:

5000 tigers left

sinhalas army says 5000+ tigers have already died(from January to now)

sinhalas people can't add up numbers....hehe

future defence.lk headline

Conspiracy by IC

dead tigers are coming back from the graves....

hehe...

LKDOOD said...

E.U. delegation to visit Sri Lanka

LINK

Moshe Dyan said...

will my worse fears be confirmed?

a movement along the A32 without capturing inland areas is highly dangerous. we should continue with the BOX strategy in taking on tiger strong points. this requires a strong inland encirclement.

and above all, the harvest should be adequate. otherwise we are only putting off the problem. it may be acceptable in a very few instances, but not in most cases. lower the area under tiger control, (naturally) higher the tiger concentration. to make things worse, these areas (like killinochchi, mulaitivu and surrounds) are relatively highly populated. if a very high tiger concentration is building there, our operations are likely to come under MASSIVE attack from tigers. they are world leaders in using human shields.

so the harvesting MUST be done along the way. as DW haspointed out, STs on the WEST coast are "trapped". these tigers MUST be harvested.

Moshe Dyan said...

in another development...

ms. shenali writes to lankaweb about the OTHER BIG THING. now tigers have come closer to their end than ever b4. but some tiger supporters say that TAMILL NATIONALISM will never die and even with less than 1000 cadres LTTE or whatever its successor can cause a lot of trouble. true. THAT IS WHY WE NEED TO HARVEST THEM. war may end oneday. but that is not the time to relax. targeted killings must continue. SLA cannot withdraw from strategically important places (both military and political) and they have no need to withdraw either. but these remaining terrorists stand lesser chance of getting IC's sympathy and they capacity to get things by terror will be lesser than now. these factors help the govt to bash them at will, IF the numbers can be reduced to a managable few during the fullsclae war.

Jambudipa said...

Sun Tzu,

/*
I expect another Tamil insurgency to develop with a new name but constituted by a lot of the present-day 2nd and 3rd-rung ltte members.
*/

LTTE can raise their ugly head in other guises. Their success will be governed by the level of support it receives from the Tamil community. Unless the Tamil community have learned a painful lesson already, the Sinhala people cannot be subjugated through terror nor do they fear '60 million Trans Tamil Nation' often used as a leverage to grab hilariously disproportional power.

TropicalStorm said...

Sun Tzu's jock itch;

We are ok with a bunch of little fry taking it up.

We can always make them kill each other, buy some and then liquidate those who we can't buy.

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

Tropicalstorm
"Sun Tzu's jock itch"

Did he wear jocks?:)
I am not hear to tell you what you want to hear but what I find probable:)In fact very similar things were said by ur Fonseka.

"We can always make them kill each other, buy some and then liquidate those who we can't buy"

Maybe this mentality explains why they are fighting to get away from you in the first place??

Panhinda,
My understanding is Tamils are fighting to self-govern their own majority areas.I am not aware of them planning to ' subjugate sinhalese' ??
**
I have noticed that the closer the SLDF is coming to defeating LTTE, some posters in these blogs(DN mainly) are beginning to shed their false 'sympathy' for Tamils which they used to show in the past and revealing themselves as racists eg talk of settling Srilankan(read Sinhalese eg Weli Oya?) prisoners in liberated Wanni, diluting Tamil genes by SLA sexual assaults after conquest, etc.

Sad. Looks like this war wont end as long as this mentality persist.

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

SunTD,

"So both the June and August predictions of LTTE destruction has been duds.Next is end-2008 deadline."

I've said this before. Military leaders throughout history have used military deadlines to perturbate the enemy. Setting a deadline puts pressure on both sides of the conflicting parties. But if a false deadline is set by one of the parties, it can be used effectively to put pressure on the other party, depending on other factors.

Now if you take the LTTE, right now one of the major problems it faces is to keep the LTTE supporting diaspora convinced that they are still winning. If the Army sets a deadline, LTTE will try to minimize the damage caused to it during that period.

The CFA (as I said somewhere else before, probably inadvertently) gave the LTTE a responsibility of keeping a territory. Loosing this territory, in the eyes of the IC, India, diaspora and others, is defeat.

This combination of deadlines (set by the SLDF) and the urgency to hold on to its territory has forced the LTTE to use its fast diminishing carder base in a defensive role. This is exactly what the Army wants. Now it can pretty much pick out these stationary units at will, using its highly mobile units (both SLAF and small attack teams of the Army).

So now the LTTE can keep guessing again if the End-2008 deadline is going to be false or true. Also it must be wondering whether to protect its territory or its cadres. Given that LTTE held territory is fast diminishing, they really don't have the option of running away any more.

hemantha said...

According to tamilnet, our forces have approached Iluppaikkadavai. And People in the villages of Mundappiddi and Vellankulam are vacating (or are being taken away).

Up to vellankulam forward marching 58 has no threat from lateral attacks. 57 is acting as a buffer. We do not talk much about the sacrifices made by this division. But they quietly make things much easier for 58 division. 57 is the reason for tigers to retreat without much fight. If the enemy start running days before you reach them it’s extremely hard to kill them unless they are cornered.

Jambudipa said...

sun-tzu,

/*
My understanding is Tamils are fighting to self-govern their own majority areas.
*/

If that's the case, the target of attacks would be against the state apparatus only. Bus bombs targeting Sinhalese and deliberate attacks on Buddhism defy your logic. I guess most Tamils thought it was heroic to attack innocent Sinhalese, if not LTTE would not continue to engage in it. I guess many of you will pay your dues for many years to come. I will certainly pass it down my children and their children children, what you did and make sure it not forgotten in a hurry.

Rover said...

"In which case I expect another Tamil insurgency to develop with a new name but constituted by a lot of the present-day 2nd and 3rd-rung ltte members.The present leaders may go into exile or run underground.This may be LTTEs plan B in case of annihilation?
A new org with new leadership would be a much more difficult fish to fry internationally by GoSL, and the story of ltte may repeat itself at a lesser scale?"

Sure, anything is possible. A new organization which is not headed by VP and his closest allies like Pottu who have managed to get on the bad eyes of India and IC may have a better chance of success.

However, are the Tamil people who have suffered for 30 years due to the conflict ready to endure another 30 years of death and destruction? Would the Tamil leaders and intellectuals who are subjugated by the LTTE at the moment allow this? What if the GOSL is reasonable enough in addressing the FEW Tamil grievances (that are not caused due to the LTTE activities and the general economic and social grievances that are common to all the people in SL)?

So what would the new organization fight for?

hemantha said...

End of 2008 deadline:

Nobody has suggested such a deadline. Only thing related I have seen so far is a comment made by Jaffna SLA Commander. Answering a question he said that he thinks that the war would be over by the end of this year.

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

rover,

I fully understand the reasons you gave.I mentioned the deadlines because a)They were made in an unprofessional manner( too specific, bombastic & colourful) and b)When I pointed these out, I was hounded by some rabid posters here fully convinced of the pinpoint predictions of SF & GR;))

Panhinda,

I dont want to get into the politics, suffice to say this war is being fought dirty by both LTTE & GoSL equally. There is no knight in shining armor here.

Rover said...

Day by day, the victories of the SLDFs are forcing the LTTE to mount a large scale attack. Now they have moved most of their hardware further north, if most of it is now in Pallikuda they have taken it as far north as possible. They can now easily launch these boats into the Jaffna lagoon. I think they will have another stab at Jaffna soon. Remember, Jaffna is not a territory controlled by them under the CFA, so it would be acquisition of new territories for them, and hence a great victory in the eyes of the everyone. But getting Jaffna will not be easy, and if handled properly, the possibilities for SLDFs are endless.

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

Hemantha,

SF said:I wont leave this war to my successor, I will finish it before leaving.
SF retires at end 2008. Voila!

The deduction of this deadline was made by Sri Lankan papers not me. SF has never denied it.

Elara® said...

Aney! Little Sea Tigers are trapped! Pow!

Bhairav said...

[A new org with new leadership would be a much more difficult fish to fry internationally by GoSL, and the story of ltte may repeat itself at a lesser scale? ]

Sun,

Every Tamil thinks that VP is a great military strategist, leader and most of all symbol of Tamil nationality. If VP's ideology fails, Tamils won't recover in this century to support any other insurgency under anyone. I'm afraid that VP's hands tied with blood for his personal glory than Tamil cause. Karma will have its final laugh.

Most of the blame should not go to VP since Tamils have history of traitors in their own.

Tamils' fate is in the hands of God.

hemantha said...

STD,
I wasn't sure earlier. But now I think he is going to keep his word. If he needs another three or six months he can always get an extension. That means the deduction (Most probably made by Sunday leader which I don't read) is not that perfect.

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

Bhairav,

"Tamils' fate is in the hands of God."

From what you said sounds more like VPs hands?

" Traitors"
There are traitors everywhere without exception.Where one party is stronger/prosperous you can always predict with 100% accuracy that the weaker party will have many 'traitors' under different guises--after all many people like to choose the buttered side of the loaf.
*In SL I would classify Devananda, Karuna, Pillaiyan, Razeek,Fenandopulle as real turncoats and oppurtunists as they took the side that they thought furthers their personal profit.
However I would like to classify Anandasangaree, Amirthalingam,DBSJ etc as people who choose SL side out of conviction not oppurtunism.
Kadirgamar falls somewhere in between.
These are my personal opinions and I could be wrong.

Bhairav said...

[However I would like to classify Anandasangaree, Amirthalingam,DBSJ etc]

Sun,

Amirthalingam was not a traitor and LTTE made number of mistakes, of which, Amirthalingam was one of them. Others you mention like Asangaree and DBSJ did not even made the cut since their effect in either way was minimal.

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

Bhairav,
you underestimate the power of the media.
DBSJ and KT Rajasingham are doing more damage(the former decently, latter indecently)to the LTTEs image than many Sinhalese diplomats combined--their words carry weight since they are Tamils!

I read them both regularly(but with guards-up, same way I keep my guards up when reading Tamilnet/DN etc:)

Unknown said...

last night's rupavahini military article showed a board in the army camp in (somewhere i cant remember) said to be careful from the LTTE snipers. it also showed a set of commandos dressed in fully camouflaged kit's to spy. they had gone till about 15m to LTTE FDL. that was in the day time.that shows the ability of the SLA

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

"that shows the ability of the SLA"

if all your data is correct that sounds more like foolish bravado to me?:)

Bhairav said...

Sun,

Are you Tamil or Sinhalese?


I used to know DBSJ from Toronto. He was doing good in Tamil newspaper which he used to own here in Toronto until his paper started mild anti-LTTE views. When you sell Tamil newspaper in a community which is full of pro-LTTE supporters, how in the world write anti-LTTE views? His paper went down, and he was beaten by some folks, then left Canada. He likes to take risks and has knack for good story telling. I do not see him as traitor.

Sun Tzu's disciple said...

Bhairav,

I am neither. Nor am I from South Asia.I am from SEA who developed an interest in your civil war.

Bhairav said...

[In a previous article, A. Vannian argued that advancing to Pallamadu would be costly for the SLA, yet as we can see it was not costly for the govt. He then made some contradictory arguments, saying that the supply lines to the western coast will not be severed as a result of V'tivu capture, but then saying that the SLA has gotten better at jungle fighting (meaning that the 57th Division will advance in the interior to block the supply lines). Vanniyan argued that the SLA is heading into a Jayasikurui situation, but then said that the LTTE is getting spread along a wide 120-mile front and cannot counterattack.]

Wiyapala,

Sorry for the belated answer! Yes, you are right in a way as this guy, Vanniyan, failed to give credit to SLA. It will be interesting to see what he got to say in his next article as he already sensed that V-tivu would fall within this week, that's why he avoided any further scenarios.

GoldenEagle said...

"Every Tamil thinks that VP is a great military strategist, leader and most of all symbol of Tamil nationality. If VP's ideology fails, Tamils won't recover in this century to support any other insurgency under anyone. I'm afraid that VP's hands tied with blood for his personal glory than Tamil cause. Karma will have its final laugh.

Most of the blame should not go to VP since Tamils have history of traitors in their own.

Tamils' fate is in the hands of God."
-----------------------------------
Look, I support the GOSL 100%, even I say that there will be another Tamil insurgency down the line if the LTTE as we know it gets destroyed. But it will never be as strong as the LTTE. The best way to avoid this is rebuilding the NE economically, and give it's people a shot at living a decent life. I worry at times with all the money being spent on the war effort that we will not have enough to rebuild the NE after the carnage is over.

On the other point you are right that the Tamils won't recover demographically within this century or ever. Neither will we Sinhalese succeed demographically. You see..... both the Tamil and Sinhalese populations in Lanka and abroad have very low fertility rates. You need a fertility rate of at least 2.1 children per woman to keep the population from declining. Sri Lanka has a fertility rate of 1.9 children per woman and its continuing to decline.

The coming 5 decades most of the Tamil and Sinhalese diaspora offspring will start to inter-marry into the white populations in the west, and as a result the Tamil and Sinhala identity will be gone for good. At the end of this century the Tamil and Sinhalese populations in Sri Lanka will be less than half of what they are today. This is the harsh reality that awaits Lankan population. faces.

Kithul said...

Moshe

"will my worse fears be confirmed?"

as per DW if the ST assets are still intact and moved to Pooneryn and the possibility of the operating in the Kilali lagoon is a possibility, they would surely be more than a handful to the SLN and SLA in the peninsula by the sheer fact of high concentration of asets in the small area - similar to other land aeas as you quite rightly say.

Isn't the rapid northward movement a worry?

the recent map on defence.lk shows a very positive aspect - if you look at it almost all areas have ben on the offensive tha merely defending inclluding 56. Is that a military strategy to retain the initiative and keep the tigesr on the defence thus negating or reducing the possibility of counter ..

mottapala said...

GE,
Very true. I met an old tamil doctor the other day who said he has completely severed his connections with Sri Lanka. He has no assests in SL and he has gone to the extent of not teaching his children tamil. He didn't want his children to feel that they have no country. What any decent tamil wants is a safe place for there family to live wether in north or south. So called tamil aspirations are a myth installed by racist terrorrists and politicians.So far tamil aspirations has only brought destruction and the same will happen in the future. Instead of tamil aspirations Sri Lankan aspirations should be installed in the minds of sri lankans. I think a vibrant economy is the only answer to future of Sri Lanka.

GoldenEagle said...

Mottapala

MR knows that only economic development can help stabilize NE in the long term.

Already the muslim population is within 10 years of surpassing the size of the combined Indian(estate Tamil) and Sri Lankan Tamil populations in Lanka. This would be the first time in 600 years that Tamils are not be the largest minority in Lanka.

Its sad time for the Tamils demographically, their population is starting to decline. VP did his part to permanently wreck the future of Tamils in Lanka with his 25 year silly all or nothing gamble.

According to the demographic trends, the Sinhalese population will also start to decline in 20 years from now and the Muslim population will follow in about 30 years from now.

This would be very very bad for Lanka, because we need a growing population to keep our economy and prosperity growing. Otherwise the whole economic system will start to crumble.

Population growth is mandatory for a growing economy, just look at how desperate Singapore is to increase it's dismal birth rate. They are even making kids go to "dating classes" and the government publishes "how to have sex in your car" columns in their newspapers.

Moshe Dyan said...

shan,

good points.

but my worry is whether SLA will advance along the A32 without much "depth". given tigers' importance of the sea stretch from vidathalathivu to poonaryn, they can counter the advance. BUT not if inland SLA movements block all tiger ability to counter attack. i want more BOX strategies until we reach the northern FDLs near poonaryn.

SLN in the west cost (south of poonaryn) is severely handicapped due to shallow waters. we saw STs taking advantage of this.

yes, when tigers are trapped into the poonaryn area we can bash them at will but that is a long way from now. but we will get there.

tigers thought (as evidenced from what balakumaran said) that SLA would move in a thin line along the A32 from mannar. they were sadly mistaken!!

GoldenEagle said...

Mottapala

Even VP himself said that the offspring of the Tamil diaspora are "a lost generation". He can clearly see that the overwhelming majority of them have no real passion for the Eelam cause, they are more interested in western pop culture.

LKDOOD said...

Halt of offensives after Vedithaltivu - 'Lanka'

LINK

Kithul said...

Moshe

it's more likely that 58 will advance along A32 only with 57 and TF2 covering the eastern flank. 57 moving alongside with TF2 weering eastward. So there's depth.

Riyaz said...

My take is nothing is gonna change as far vanni operations are concerned.

majority of the critics wh proposed Ceasefire are quiet now. That shows the pathe taken by MR,GR and SF is silently plauded by them.

Riyaz said...

What we need is to wipe out the terrorists as soon as possible and start developmental work in the liberated areas.

LKDOOD said...

American helicopters are coming to Lanka with president Hamid Karzai

LKDOOD said...

All transport links to Jaffna to be severed during SAARC

tamilnet

LKDOOD said...

DMK leaders on fast to protest killing of fishermen by Lankan troops

LINK

Ogre said...

stop and consider:

LTTE giving ground to Sri lanka army offensives along the coast line.

LTTE is doing this with very smart intenstions.

LTTE is holding back about 2000 heavily trained cadre to mount two significant attacks against SLA.

SLA is over-extending itself along the western coast line. for each mile you need at least 200 more soldires on the ground and another 10 times to support them (rations/supplies/weapons)

LTTE is gathering the first half the 2000 cadres about 1000 of them in Malavi waiting to attack.

the objective is decapitation attacks by hitting the 30 mile flank along the western coast in the middle and cut it in to two

then move cadres in north of pallikuda downsouth with heavy weapons and outflank them from the sea

the goal of this is to deprive the strike battalion of supplies and then hit them hard on the head.


the other force 1000 is getting positioned along the south mulativu lagoon. they are in the process of infiltrating along the lagoon next to Mulativu jungles. thier goal is to hold the walioya front in check while the battle on the west coast is ongoing.

LTTE does not anticipate any further attacks on national front as civilians are now trained to man the motor locations and reload, they are already aimed as set positions all the way 5 miles in to EP (ltte had broken each sector down to 5x5 meter section and has positioned motors on each).


I agree we should establish blocking positions before we head north, it is up to the generals to decide.

remember the goal is to KILL them not to get land
and i hope that should be only reason.
the sarrc is a big distraction for sri lanka. and I believe LTTE will try to attack SLA during 7-31 8-3 period


SLA better prepare, strong advice against moving north.
LTTE never gave land willingly, and when they did like in operation ranagosa - they did to spread the units of SLA

remember the numbers again.

Colomblogs said...

This is all about business! Compare LTTE to a big corporate :
1) VP is the CEO and shareholders are Tamil Diaspora. factory workers are the child soliders/poor people (who cant or not want to migrate)

2) When business was started, CEO was innovative and attractive to shareholders, he visited the factories daily. Understand the facotry process and difficulties of factory workers.

2). As any business developes,only CEO and top management (and families)getting all the bonus.

3). Shareholders wants the busines to continue for thier survival in EU/Canada. They never want to come here and run it, but be a part of it.

4). factory workers (child soliders/poor people)getting died when trying produce goods for the CEO and shareholders.

5). Now business is doing very badly. Shareholders are desperate! No succession plan for top management! And middle managment geeting resinged (by SLDF)! Factory workers are not getting any benefits/motivation and daily curshed in to machines.Factories (camps) closing day by day. Even the goods they produce (suicide killing of innocnet civillians)are rejected in the market and by shareholders.

CEO is too old and can't visit the factories and not understand factory difficulties! now all he wants is to satisfy shareholders and retain the benefits.

Lets face it..bankruptcy is imminent. CEO may forced to shut factories and open "laali kade" as he started in early 80's. Now who will be there to support him? And is that shareholders want...?after 30 years...!

kuttu said...

Situation report

operation 'red bird' is underway

kuttu said...

more information about operation 'red bird' cannot be posted right now

we will update as we can

kuttu said...

Single said

Lets face it..bankruptcy is imminent. CEO may forced to shut factories and open "laali kade" as he started in early 80's. Now who will be there to support him? And is that shareholders want...?after 30 years...!

July 19, 2008 9:29 PM

_______________________________

100% true about sinhalas government

its bankcrupt....hehe

kuttu said...

LKDOOD said...
All transport links to Jaffna to be severed during SAARC

tamilnet

July 19, 2008 8:54 PM
___________________________

more suffering for tamils

kuttu said...

LKDOOD said...
Halt of offensives after Vedithaltivu - 'Lanka'

_________________________

sinhalas master is indians....hehe

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Monkey is having a field day..!

Do not forget
"monkey are fun too!"

Phew whew! Come on..

Show us another somersault bitch!

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Real good analogy Single!

Really good...!

Unknown said...

heh heh...tiger lepper supporter badly want the offensives halted :)
tnet is quiet over battle updates :)
things are going well...

btw lankadissent doesn't say reveal anything about there "sources" for halting ops after V.
and also we have passed V. and going strongly further north with the batter slipper gang taking flight :)
talking about taking flight... TAF has gone extinct??? :)
or maybe waiting until the tigers think it's time to hit back after "boxing in" sldf :)

TropicalStorm said...

Kuttu

what happened to Operation 'kulki' ? it used to drive fear into a dear old Tamil uncle I know. He was convinced that would be the end of all sinhalese.'kulki' was supposed to be a super weapon...that was over 2 yrs ago.

These psy ops crap sans capacity have lost their edge. Today SL has a modern and very capable fighting force that understands and is willing to take risks. There are more forces than are seen and known publicly that are operating in this war.

Ogre;
you raise some intesting possibilities. However, gathering a force of 2000 in one place is no longer a very feasible thing, nor is it wise for the tigers. Given the enhanced capabilities of SL intelligence and SLAF, such a gathering is what every Sri lankan would like to hear about in the news, to forget the economic burden of this war.

The LTTE definitely lacks the ability to quickly move a large contingent with logistics, unless they are capable of capturing supplies from the SLA and continuing forward. None of these are realistic assumptions, not to say they would not be beyond the scope of the LTTE to attempt. They've pulled off enough crazy stunts to prove otherwise.


Bhairav;
Did you also notice how DBSJ's writings swing between an admiration for the LTTe and then to mildly anti-LTTE even in the course of a single article? Some articles sport very professional and authoritative language and some others degenerate to disjointed story telling with hearsay as the basis. I really like the guy's articles nevertheless.

TropicalStorm said...

LTTE still has at least 4 zlins and another support aircraft. Only the Zlins are capable of delivering ordnance, even though the other one may be used in a fighter mode if they manage to mount guns on it. That could be deadly to the Hinds (Mi24s) of the SLAF.

The newly acquired F7Gs (upgraded Mig21s, 5 units) are fully operational and the Mig 27s and Kfir's are also being upgraded. More modern air craft will join the battle shortly. The SLAF's present fleet is quite capable of any threat the LTTe can throw at them at this point.

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