Prabha's Photographer Dead. SLA Attacks LTTE in Mannar

A pro-LTTE website has today announced that a personal 'photographer' for LTTE Leader Velupillai Pripaharan has died. The 'photographer' has been promoted to the military rank of 'Lt. Colonel' and the supposedly civilian honour of Mamanithar concurred on him.

Sri Lanka Military Intelligence believe the Tiger had died of injuries sustained either on the LTTE 'Heroes-Day' bombing of an LTTE hideout last November or in the February 6th bombing of Thiruweiaru, in the general area north-west of Iranamadu Tank. The LTTE initially claimed that only civilians were killed in the attack. The SLAF also attacked an LTTE Sea Tiger training base last Thursday morning. The attack was the result of a successful coordination between Naval Intelligence and the Sri Lanka Air Force.

The Sri Lanka Army's Task Force I managed to eliminate four LTTE 'Lt. Colonels' within the space of four days last week, including the LTTE's Mannar District 'Operations Commander' Lt. Col' Jeyakanthan from the LTTE's elite Charles Anthony regiment. These attacks were made at Madhu, Palampiddi and Mannar North areas. Another LTTE regional commander 'Lt. Col' Karunaharan was killed in Weli Oya when his double cab got caught in an LRRP ambush. Local newspapers and some web-based sites copying them had mistaken this attack for an earlier attack on the LTTE's Weli Oya leader 'Lt. Col' Kumaran. Kumaran was attacked by LRRP six months ago and is now paralyzed.

Meanwhile trops from Task Force I are engaged in successful operations ahead of their positions in Mannar, Vavuniya and Weli Oya with minimum casualties to troops. Troops from 58 Division led a three-pronged assault north-west of Giant Tank this morning. Soldiers were able to capture an LTTE bunker-line in Uylankulam and overrun another at Pallaikuli and Parappakandal. Six bodies of Tigers, mostly female, were recovered along with a few assault rifles at Parappakandal. 5 bodies were recovered from Uylankulam.

The fact that troops are not given any deadlines for these operations have made planning and execution of limited, yet high-yielding assaults a daily occurrence.

In the meantime, police SIS has claimed it uncovered a plot to infiltrate the Presidential Palace and assassinate President Rajapakse, Minister Keheliya etc. While some SLA sources were suspicious of these claims, highly placed sources confirmed that there is evidence to suggest that the findings of the SIS was true to a great extent. These sources, however claimed that LTTE may have many such teams working independent of each other for the same objective and that SIS has their work cutout for them in the coming months.