Weather plays havoc amidst bloody
clashes
 The
past seven days would have easily witnessed the bloodiest clashes in the
north, with Tigers repeatedly resorting to gas attacks and the desperate
attempts in Tamil Nadu, by LTTE proxies, to get India to intervene on
their behalf, in the guise of saving civilians in Wanni. It is a clear
sign that, Prabhakaran’s men are receiving body blows.
 There
were no such protests in Tamil Nadu when the East was being cleared or
thereafter, when the entire Mannar district was cleared. The question
being asked is can India intervene on behalf of an organization declared
by the civilised world as a terrorist outfit and against a legally
elected government, which is battling this most ruthless terrorist
outfit to restore the country’s sovereignty, and free a section of its
people from the tyranny of the LTTE.
It is ironical, that our own opposition, which made catcalls when the
East was liberated, challenging the government instead, to go after the
Tiger heartland in Wanni, does not have the decency to, at least now,
rally behind the forces wholeheartedly. We only hear isolated voices
from the opposition ranks backing our forces.
Now that the war has reached a decisive stage, the Defence establishment
has taken a wise decision to temporarily suspend the reporting of all
casualty figures. The LTTE stopped giving its casualty tolls after every
encounter sometime ago. Even during the recent Gulf wars, the news sent
out by the coalition forces was to a great extent, highly filtered, and
many a western journalist became hurrah boys for the invading forces,
after being embedded with the advancing units.
Road to Kilinochchi muddy and bloody
The heaviest fighting took place last Saturday, with the 57 Division
advancing to take Kilinochchi Town, deciding to take what was left of
the enemy ditch-cum-bund impressive defence structure in its sector. It
had been constructed from Nachchikudah to Akkarayankulam, stretching for
some 24 kms. These defences have been a hindrance to outflank
Killinochchi town from the West.
In this assault that began at 6:30 am, the 8th Sri Lanka Light Infantry
(SLLI) commanded by Lt. Col. Ipshitha Dissanayake from the north of
Kokavil and the 4th Sinha Regiment commanded by Lt. Col. Prabhashana
Welikala were the worst hit. While all the participating units had to
weather the merciless downpours, as much as Tiger mortar and artillery
fire, but in the case of these two units, they were at the receiving end
of terrorist gas attacks. Twenty nine soldiers of the 8th SLLI were
overcome by CS gas, while most of them recovered in the battlefield
itself, 10 had to be hospitalised for further treatment. Seventeen men
from Charlie Company of the 4th Sinha along with some men of the 17th
Gajaba, fighting alongside them, were overwhelmed by CS gas.
The other units involved in this assault on the main northern Tiger
defence line were 57-1 Brigade’s 9th Gajaba under Lt. Col. Chandana
Somaweera to the west of Akkarayankulam tank; Lt. Col. Jayampathy
Bandara led 12th Sinha to the west of 9th Gajaba. Together, these two
units were assigned to cover some six kms to take 18 and 16 enemy
bunkers. The 6th Gemunu Watch commanded by Lt. Col. Kamal Pinnawala was
assigned 700 metre stretch west of 12th Sinha. On the East of
Akkarayankulam tank was the 57-2 Brigade. The 3rd Gajaba under Maj.
Sanjaya Fernando was assigned to assault the tank bund.
The 9th Gajaba’s Alpha Company was led by Lt. Kolitha Kulasekara, Bravo
Company by Capt. Mahesh Gunasinghe, and Delta Company by Capt. Rukman
Perera. It was Delta Company’s Cpl. Jayasekera and his small team that
first crossed the Tiger defences from the Akkarayankulam tank side
Small is effective
It was mostly eight-man groups that launched the assault to take what
was left of the Tiger defence structure, using improvised ladders and
other means. Though after about three hours of heavy fighting, about six
kilometers of the line was captured by the forces, the Tigers mounted at
least six counter assaults from noon onwards from Akkarayankulam west
and east, backed by CS gas attacks and mortar and artillery fire. It was
quite clear that, in these areas, Tigers had, in advance, marked every
tree, rock and any identifiable geographical location, so as to rain in
gas, artillery and mortar fire accurately, no sooner troops moved into
those areas.
Observers said it might be wise for the security forces to bypass
Kilinochchi for a while, as they earlier did at Nachchikudah and, in the
meantime, go after Tiger big guns hidden away in the jungles, using
whatever means. The use of the Air Force on such missions is now badly
hampered due to adverse weather conditions now prevailing and expected
to continue till end of December.
Many of these crucial decisions are expected to be taken this week, once
Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka returns after a private visit to
the US. Even during his absence, he had been in constant contact with
his top commanders.
By last Sunday, the 58 Division commanded by Brig. Shavendra Silva, had
captured completely some 10 kms of the Tiger ditch-cum-bund defence line
between Vannerikulam and Akkarayan, and had advanced some six kilometers
beyond this line. It is now less than 10 kms from its main target, the
main staging area of the Tigers on the Western Coast, Pooneryn, from
where it even targets security forces Northern Headquarters at Palali,
with its long range artillery.
Downpour hampers air strikes
With the weather playing havoc, it is small eight-man teams that are now
waging operations for both Divisions. The country is forever indebted to
these fighting men, now engaged in operations in various northern
fronts. Most people in the rest of the country don’t realise that these
fighting men are without proper meals, not even a hot cup of tea and
mostly surviving on field rations. They are soaked from head to toe;
with no place even to dry their mud and water soaked boots and clothes,
let alone catch a wink of sleep. To keep the water out, each soldier has
only a raincoat in the shape of a poncho.
There were reports yesterday that the Army was dispatching washing
machines and dryers, close to the front, at least to ensure some dry
uniforms. The rains, this week in the region, were described by one
senior officer as “unusually very heavy.”
With the weather restricting the use of aircraft, including UAVs, the
Tigers are said to be building yet another ditch-cum-bund defence line
in the Murukandy region.
With much of the ditch-cum-bund defence line now overrun, by Friday,
some units of the 57 Division were only one kilometer from the southern
periphery of Kilinochchi Town.
It now appears that four suicide attack craft had come to attack the two
vessels Nimalawa and Mercs Ruhuna ferrying supplies to Jaffna peninsula.
Initial reports from the Navy said that, its sentries stationed aboard
the two vessels engaged the suicide craft with machine-gun fire and
destroyed two of them, while a third was captured after shooting dead
the terrorist manning it. The one that exploded near Nimalawa, causing
some damage to it, is believed to be the fourth. Though the Tiger
website Tamilnet immediately claimed the vessel had been sunk, it had
been miraculously saved from a watery grave.
It is also now suspected that, these suicide craft had come from India
to attack the two vessels berthed for the night off the Milladi pier,
situated between KKS and Point Pedro. The suicide craft had not been
detected earlier, as they wouldn’t have registered on any radar, due to
being virtually half submerged and hardly visible on the surface.
This week also saw another very symbolic victory, when 22-3 Brigade
under Col. Rasika Fernando recaptured Gajabapura in the Weli Oya belt.
Gajabapura fell into Tiger hands during the Wanni debacle of 1999.
On Friday, authorities were able to make a major breakthrough into a
terror cell operated by the Tigers in the upcountry estate region. A
special police team from Colombo arrested 13 suspects from three estates
in Uda Pussellawa and Nuwara Eliya in this connection. The police made
the breakthrough following information elicited from two Tiger activists
arrested from a textile shop at Pettah and a warehouse at Bloemendhal
Road. The cell had been assigned the tasks of mounting attacks on
Diyatalawa security forces training camps, assassination of VIPs, and
smuggling of weapons to upcountry avoiding checkpoints and finding
suitable places to store them. One of the cell members had done a
reconnaissance to carry out a suicide attack during a passing out
ceremony at the Diyatalawa Military Academy, when parents and close
relatives of the trainees are present. Three Wanni Tigers, who had crept
into the vicinity, in the night, through barbed wire fences, had even
compiled a report on the proposed attack. Most of the suspects are said
to be fluent in Sinhala.
A Tiger from the north, serving as an English teacher attached to the
Gampahawatte Estate school in Udapussellawa too, has been arrested. The
English teacher had, on several occasions, attempted to make friends
with Army officers.
The LTTE had even instructed this cell to look for houses to be rented
out to facilitate future attacks in the estate sector.
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