Zlin downing further confirmed

Intelligence units have uncovered the general area of the crash-site of the TAF plane. The site is situated inside dense jungle at Mullaiyaveli, south of Mulaithivu. Unfortunately no UAV images taken upto now have been able to clearly show the site due to thick vegetation and immediate action taken by the LTTE to cover it up.

Civilian informants of MIC residing along the Mulaitivu-Oddusudan road have seen the plane descending in a ball off fire. Some had observed the plane from their Chena cultivations and others had heard the noise of the plane crashing. The area was then cordoned off by the Tigers.

Other credible sources have also confirmed the destruction of the plane. These come from radio messages recorded by 2MIC corp attached to 59 Division in Mullaitivu.

But the most credible information comes in a taped conversation between a Chengdu F-7 pilot and the SLAF Operations Control room at Katunayake. In this tape, heard by sources very close to DefenceWire, the F-7 pilot confirms the sighting and identification of the plane and requests permission to engage it with a missile whereupon the permission is granted and the pilot describes the Zlin taking a direct hit and plunging into darkness over Mulaitivu jungles.

These tapes might never be released to the public due to some sensitive information in them.

Meanwhile some web-based sources have distorted the battle between Black Tiger units and the Special Forces at Vavuniya claiming that there was an intelligence warning of the intrusion and that the Special Forces were lying in waiting for the intruders to come. Unfortunately this was not the case.

The operation was top secret in the LTTE, as it is with this type of suicide operation. It was betrayed only by the vigilance of Special Forces troops deployed in two bunkers in the Omanthai FDL.

The Special Forces platoon was from Special Forces Squadron 2 who were deployed in a small detachment where some injured soldiers and soldiers about to go on leave or had just returned from war were resting or recuperating from injuries but also forming a vital back-up in case of need. This is a normal practice in the Army.

It was these men who made the call to allow the Tigers to come in, instead of engaging them in front of the FDL, in which case they would have escaped and never called in the Zlins in the first place. True to the wise decision of SF soldiers (importantly no officers made the call) the Tigers ran for their lives in the first engagement, but towards the base, instead of the Irattaperiyakulam jungle, and were soon trapped. The entire SF platoon swung into action and started surrounding the now injured Black Tiger unit.

By last morning they were completely surrounded. Wounded and up against a mighty foe, the Tigers had their backs against the wall (or the fence in this case) after having lost the element of surprise. In desperation they called in artillery to take out the radar, but then the Special Forces made their final push killing 11 members of the team in one place with two committing suicide.