LTTE faces heavy setback in Vavuniya battles

Eastern resettlement firmly on track:

VICTORY: Battles are not fought always in favour of one party. The victory of a battle depends on the tactics and strategies used by the warring parties and also their vigilance apart from the firepower and manpower.

Though the Security Forces are greatly committed to the Ceasefire Agreement the Tiger outfit made use of the Ceasefire to spy on the Security Forces’ defences and gun positions as they were not genuinely committed to the Ceasefire Agreement.

Prior to the Tiger assault on the Jaffna defences in August last year, the Tiger outfit made use of the A-9 road which was opened for the public to induct more than 80 men for direct observation of the artillery gun positions of the Security Forces ahead of the Muhamalai FDL.

The direct observation of the Security Forces artillery gun positions enabled the Tiger outfit to fire artillery rounds on the Security Forces gun positions during the battle in Jaffna last year.

The Security Forces were put into a disadvantageous situation during the confrontations in Muhamalai last year but were able to repulse the attack on the Muhamalai defences, thus taking over the areas ahead of the Security Forces defences overrunning the Tiger defences.

However, the Security Forces were able to put an end to their spying missions after the closure of the A-9 road from Muhamalai entry exit point.

However, the Tigers made use of the same tactic in Vavuniya too this week by sending their cadres to the cleared areas in Vavuniya to engage in espionage mingling with the civilian population.
 

They made use of the Army’s leniency towards the civilian population to their advantage to infiltrate the area through the Omanthai entry/exit point now open for the public, three days a week.

Villagers living peacefully with the help of the Army were used to infiltrate the gun positions at Pampaimadu in Vavuniya where the 130 mm gun was located.

According to intelligence sources five to six Tiger cadres have infiltrated to the Government held area in Pampaimadu Northwest of Vavuniya equipped with Ground Positioning Equipment, military communication sets, compasses, binoculars, night vision devices and satellite images to direct artillery fire to the gun positions.

They infiltrated the Pampaimadu gun position of the Security Forces mingling with the civilian population.

The infiltration of the Tiger cadres to the Pampaimadu gun position was witnessed on last Saturday as the Tiger cadres started firing artillery into the gun position around 8 p.m.

The Tigers’ 130 artillery rounds started to fall on Pampaimadu artillery gun position 8 p.m. The forth artillery round fell exactly within the artillery position while the previous three artillery rounds did not fall on to the target.

Tiger cadres on the Artillery Observation post close to Pamapaimadu gun position with the help of the high tech equipment were not only able to correct their target but also communicate with the LTTE gun position which was about 30 Kilometres away from Pampaimadu gun position to redirect the artillery fire on to the correct target.

During this attack eight rounds of 130 mm artillery rounds had fallen to the ammo dump in the gun position creating huge explosions in the vicinity.

The Tiger artillery fire destroyed the ammo dump where 763 130 mm artillery rounds were stored. More than 50 artillery rounds were air bursted.

With the intercepted Tiger communications the Security Forces were able to detect the Tiger artillery position and they later neutralised the gun position located in Palampiddi area with the support of the Sri Lanka Air Force.

As the major blast was taking place in Pampaimadu the Tiger cadres launched an assault on the troops operating in Paliyakulam area on the Palampiddi Vavuniya road.

The troops were operating two kilometres ahead of the FDL in West of Omanthai.

Paliyankulam is located ahead of the Security Forces FDL west of Omanthai.

The Security Forces deployed these troops as a part of the ongoing operations to neutralise Tiger gun positions ahead of the Security forces’ defences in the east and west of Madhu.

The troops operating in Paliyankulam area readjusted their defences in the face of the Tiger assault and later recaptured the area flushing out Tiger cadres on Sunday morning.

As the Tiger fire was directed at Pampaimadu gun position the LTTE cadres also launched a simultaneous attack on troops operating in Vavunaperiyakulam on the Vilanthikulam - Vavuniya road. Tiger cadres infiltrated into the defences compelling the troops to adjust their defences.

During the battle in Vavunaperiyakulam, a locally manufactured buffel went ahead of the FDL to bring in four soldiers who were injured during the confrontation. While returning the buffel got caught in a huge explosion due to RPG fire and toppled.

The Army was not able to recover the buffel but just hours later the Tamil Net website carried a picture of the buffel which was caught in the explosion. The buffel that appeared in the website was in good shape.

However, the Army while being doubtful of the picture as the buffel was heavily damaged due to Tiger fire, at the same time, raised doubts about the number of the buffel as the Tigers had clearly focused on the number.

The doubts were raised based on the four digit number that appeared in the photograph as the Army usually uses a five digit number for buffels. The number appeared in the buffel in the photograph was the number of an Army ambulance in Vavuniya.

The damages caused to the buffel due to Tiger fire was not visible in the picture. Therefore, while accepting the fact that Army had lost one of its buffels during the battle they raise doubts about the pictures of buffels that appeared in the TamilNet website.

Therefore, it is up to the people to decide whether these pro-LTTE websites are giving accurate information or not.

As wrong information was spreading all over the country through the LTTE websites about the confrontations west of Omanthai, the Tiger cadres in Thampanaion, Madhu - Parayanalankulam launched an attack on the Security Forces on Tuesday around 4 p.m.

The area was located three kilometres north of the Security Forces FDL west of Omanthai.

Troops repulsed the Tiger attack that came from the northern direction killing four Tiger cadres.

On the same day around 2 p.m. the troops at Mandimuruppu Vavuniya also came under Tiger assault but moved tactically to counter the attack.

Once the Tiger cadres withdrew from the area in face of heavy resistance from the troops they were again ambushed by the troops killing 20 Tiger cadres.

During the battles on Saturday night in Pompaimadu, Vavunaperiyakulam, according to technical sources of the Security Forces, 62 Tiger cadres have been killed and 89 have sustained injuries.

The Security Forces too suffered heavily losing 17 soldiers, out of which 15 bodies have already been recovered. They accepted two bodies identified as soldiers after the LTTE handed over 15 bodies to the Security Forces through the ICRC.

Eighty one soldiers have also been injured during these battles and 35 have already returned to the battle after undergoing treatment at hospitals.

However, Security Forces have lost contact with three small groups during these battles. Two officers are among them. Till yesterday evening they have not communicated with the Security Forces.

According to intercepted communications of the LTTE after the battles in the west of Omanthai 11 Tiger leaders were among the 86 Tiger cadres killed in the confrontation in the battles on June 2, 3 and June 5.

In addition to this 89 cadres have also been injured during these battles.

The LTTE have announced the names of Arivannan and Kutti in the self-styled rank of ‘Captain’, eight leaders Anandan, Kandaikumar, Kanaruban, Ariyan, Murali, Kandakumaran, Kanawanan and Kalai Cheliyan in the ranks of ‘Lieutenant’ and ‘Second Lieutenant’ Purachchi among the leaders killed during these confrontations.

According to information more than 500 cadres have participated in these battles as one leader was commanding nearly 40 Tiger cadres.

The Tiger outfit, despite the false propaganda carried out in the wake of the battles in Vavuniya has suffered heavily during their desperate attempt to put a blockade to the advancing troops ahead of Security Forces defences in the north of Vavuniya.

Now, troops are in good shape to face the Tiger attacks and consolidated the areas which were recaptured from the LTTE.

The Tiger cadres are making these desperate attempts as they now fear that their strongholds in the Wanni will also fall into the hands of the Security Forces as in the East.

They made this desperate attempt after their failed attempt to infiltrate the defences in Delft islands last month in a bid to create panic in the Jaffna peninsula.

They are well aware that they cannot come out of this situation which is not in favour of them at all with the loss of areas in the East.

Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has given strict orders to the Eastern leaders to stick to the area despite continuous attacks on Tiger camps in the Thoppigala jungles.

He is well aware that they will not be able to fight with the Security Forces if they do not get enough man power to face the battles in the Wanni.

The Security Forces have now confined the Tiger cadres to a 11 square kilometres jungle patch in Thoppigala and have expedited the process to defeat Tiger outfit completely from the East.

According to Tiger sources Prabhakaran has given instructions to create a problematic situation in the East so that they can hold their territory in the Thoppigala jungles by diverting the Security Forces’ attention towards maintaining law and order in the newly liberated areas.

The explosion of a pressure mine targeting the Colombo bound train at Vakaneri junction in Punani, Batticaloa was one such attempt by the LTTE to give a message to the international community that they still have control in the East.

However, the bomb did not make any impact as only a few compartments and the engine were damaged in the explosion with minimum casualties to the passengers.

The Tiger outfit is opting for these tactics at a time the Government is in the process of completing the resettlement of the displaced civilians in the Eastern province.

The second stage of the resettlement of civilians in Kokkadicholai in the West and South of Batticaloa is now nearing completion with the resettlement of 25,000 people belonging to 6,700 families in 24 villages.

The third and final phase of the resettlement process is due to be started on June 15 to resettle 38,000 people in 24 villages in Vavunathivu area.

The LTTE is disturbed due to the speedy progress reported in resettling people as the international community is focusing their attention in the Eastern province with the Government announcing the province now accessible to foreign diplomats to observe the situation there.

Japanese Special Peace Envoy Yasushi Akashi also visited Vakarai yesterday to observe the progress of the resettlement of displaced civilians.

Visits of this nature are not in favour of the LTTE as the international community will be able to see a vast difference among the people as they free of Tiger claws to spend a life free of terror.

Therefore, the Tigers will do everything possible to turn the situation in favour of them by engaging in various barbaric acts to disturb the peaceful situation in the Eastern province.

Under this circumstances the Security Forces will have to act with greater responsibilities to take the situation strictly under their control so that they can put pressure on the LTTE until they are brought to the negotiating table.