Gulf of Mannar and Pallikuda- Click to enlargeMi-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.
