LTTE gets large stock of artillery shells

News has reached us that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has unloaded at least one floating warehouse of arms and especially a large quantity of artillery shells from either Chalai, Mullaithivu or Alampil in the Northeastern coast.

So far, the Tigers have launched two heavy artillery barrages at Weli Oya. Described in military terms as a harassing fire, the barrages came after a long lull where only a few intermittent shells were fired by the Tigers until a few days ago. Intelligence sources have indicated the Tigers had run out of their stocks while others have been destroyed in air force raids.

SLA artillery captured by LTTE after Mullaithivu battle on 18th July 1996

However, the recent artillery engagements in the Weli Oya sector clearly indicates that it has obtained fresh stocks from the Northeastern coast. The LTTE's reinforcement capability at sea and on land is the highest in this area.

The Sri Lanka Navy does not patrol these waters aggressively enough since large swarms of LTTE suicide boats constant act as a deterrence in these seas. In a recent attack, the SLN lost an Ultra Fast Attack Craft in seas off Nayaru and Kokilai on 22nd March 2008 at around 2.30am.

Highly confidential sources told DefenceWire that the UFAC regularly docks at this location, which others claimed the explosion occurred while it was on the move. In any event, it is now believed that 3 Black Tiger suicide bombers may have rammed a human torpedo into the hull of the boat. 10 sailors were lost in the attack.

LTTE Torpedo kit with detonation cones

LTTE human torpedo

In a further confirmation of the LTTE's new acquisitions, the Tigers launched a volume of heavy artillery fire from morning till evening at SLA's FDL at Weli Oya today. At least 25 soldiers injured in the attack on the FDL were taken to Anuradhapura Base Hospital.

Shells fell near civilian settlements at Janakapura and Kiriibbanwewa in Weli Oya and Yaya-11 in Padavi Sripura, Trincomalee injuring a civilian (Padavi Sri Pura is the last village and northern most tip of Trincomalee District bordering Mullaithivu District. Adjacent village of Padaviya is located in Anuradhapura District).

Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Army took control of a small LTTE strong point Northeast of Giant's Tank in Mannar strategically located for controlling the general area Veppankulam and Kallikulam. Casualties caused to LTTE is unclear.

Support grows for War

A new research shows that the support from Southern masses for the government's military initiatives against the LTTE is continues to grow despite slow progress in the battle fields.
Sinhala support for the government's military campaign continues to be strong whilst their support for peace talks drops to 16.6%, according to the results of the March 2008 Peace Confidence Index survey,done by the Social Indicator of the Centre for Policy alternatives. The research was conduct well before the recent military setback in the northern front and the army's biggest victory in the Wanni,capturing Madu church area,the holy shrine of Catholics for centuries.
A majority of the Sinhala community (62.9%) feel that the security situation in the country has improved. Respondents from the other three communities disagree, with fair majorities stating that the situation has either worsened or that they do not know or are not sure.
The majority of the Sinhala community (61.3%) show a willingness to bear the economic burden for the sake of the government's military campaign. However, overwhelming majorities in the other three communities are not willing to bear the cost of living for this reason.
The reaserch also shows the President Rajapakse's strong popularity amongst the Sinhalese also remains unchanged, with high levels of approval for his handling of the war. His approval ratings are however affected by dissatisfaction expressed by all ethnic groups with regards to his management of the economy (Sinhala- 63.6%, Tamil- 88.7%, UCT - 72%, Muslim- 78.3%).
While majorities in the Sinhala and Muslim communities characterise the conflict as a war against terrorism, the Up Country Tamil community describes it as an "ethnic conflict". Sinhala opinion on this has risen by nine percentage points. The Tamil community also describes the conflict as an 'ethnic conflict'.

Results are available for immediate download from http://www.cpalanka.org/research_papers/PCI_March_2008.pdf