Tigers face dead end in dense jungles of Thoppigala

LTTE unable to salvage pride as Navy routs Sea Tigers

Date: June 19, 2006,
Time: 8.10 a.m.
Location: Samanayandi Poothaddi, Battle Front in Thoppigala

The location is a huge rock a few miles away from the Barans Cap or famously known Thoppigala rock.

Lt. Col. Jayampathi Thillekeratne, Commanding Officer of the Eight Gemunu Watch was giving instructions to Alpha and Charly Company to link their troops operating in small groups to create a front in Kotiyagala, another rock ahead of the Samanalayanadi Poothaddi.

As Lt. Col. Thillekeratne was giving instructions to his men, the Artillery Officer attached to 8 Gemunu Watch was ordering his gun positions to take Tiger targets in Mailawattuwan a location ahead of Kotiyagala. The target is just one kilometre ahead of our location.

The artillery rounds fall directly to the targets given by the Commando troops operating ahead of the defence line created by the troops attached to 7 Gemunu Watch and 6 Gemunu Watch.

We could see the artillery round falling into Tiger locations in Mailawattuwan and Akkarattivu, the areas located East of Narakamulla where there was a heavy Tiger presence.

Lt. Col. Thilekeratne suddenly get a radio message from his men in the front line. The Tigers had located our presence in Samanalayandi Poothaddi rock and we were advised to take cover and go back as the location was prone for Tiger mortar fire. We move back in tractors to Thodivilachcholai.

Maj. Uditha Bandara, Commanding Office of the 2 Commando Regiment was also busy checking with his troops whether the targets has been correctly taken.

He checks the result through his communications set from the Commando troops operating ahead of the defence line created by the troops attached to 8 GW, 7 GW and 6 GW.

The retaliatory fire of the Tigers is now being heard from Mailawattuwan and Akkaraththviai. The troops are moving towards the target amidst the Tiger fire. By 1 p.m a major confrontation erupted as Commando troops advanced towards the Akkaraththviai and Kattuvelikulam.

Two soldiers, injured due to AP mines were rushed to Maha Oya hospital. A soldier caught in a Tiger AP mine blast succumbed to his injuries.

Maj. Uditha Bandara got confirmation from his troops that over 30 Tiger cadres were killed during the confrontation and that they captured six Tiger bunkers. Many female cadres were killed during the confrontation.

By evening troops were clearing the area and Engineering troops were inducted to clear booby traps and AP mines amidst firing from Tiger cadres who were making a desperate attempt to evacuate their casualties and dead bodies.

This was just another date for the troops engaged in the Thoppigala battle front. The troops have now reached the final stage of the Thoppigala battle which has been fought since February 25, in different stages in the West and South of Batticaloa.

The first stage of the battle was to create a link from Kohombagastalawa on the Ampara - Maha Oya road to Vaunathivu via Unnichciya tank, Pavakkudichenai. Two Commando troops supported by 7 Sri Lanka Light Infantry and 6,7,8 Gemunu Watch launched this operation in February.

Then they made a tactical move, capturing Chenkaladi - Maha Oya A-5 road along with Karadiyanaru, Rugam on April 12.

With the capture of these areas in the West of Batticaloa, nearly 125,000 people came under the control of Security Forces and the Government initiated resettlement of the displaced civilian was completed last Wednesday.

The main battle to flush out the Tiger cadres in Thoppigala started only after the troops captured Chenkaladi-Maha Oya road.

The task before the troops engaged in this operation was to clear the jungle patch bordering A-5 road from the East, Polonnaruwa Batticaloa road from the North, Maha Oya from the South and the Aralaganwila and Vadamunai from the South.

The troops engaged in this operation have been able to reduce the number of Tiger cadres in the entire Thoppigala area to 200 to 250.

According to field commanders 1,400 to 1,500 cadres were in the South and West of Batticaloa prior to the commencement of this operation and after the completion of the Vakarai operation in January.

More than 600 cadres, many from Batticaloa region have left the organisation since the eruption of battles, and reunited with their families.

The Security Forces are closely monitoring their activities without allowing them to engage in any sabotage activities in the cleared areas.

With many Tiger cadres leaving the organisation Jeyam, Nagesh and Ramesh now leading the Tiger battle in Thoppigala jungles are making desperate attempts to keep these Tiger cadres under their fold.

As they could not keep the newly recruited and married cadres, they made an announcement last week allowing the young and newly recruited cadres to leave the organisation.

The most tragic circumstance in the Tiger outfit is their announcement ordering to shoot the injured cadres as

they do not have medical stocks with them to treat them.

According to Security Officials the Tiger outfit is making desperate attempts to flee Thoppigala possibly with the support of a sea movement from the Mullaitivu as they are now making their retreat towards the lagoon.

Many other cadres are now fleeing towards Wanni crossing the Polonnaruwa Batticaloa road from Vakaneri taking cover in the thick jungles in Trikonamadu, Angodavilluwa.

Amidst this desperate attempts by the Tiger cadres to flee the area, troops are now moving towards the Narakamulla, Tharavilkulam where the Tiger outfit is having their main military and training bases.

The troops are now in a strong position to complete their task within the next few days completely flushing out the Tiger cadres from the area.

As the Tiger outfit is being beaten in their last bastion in the East, the Sea Tigers faced a major defeat in the sea off Point Pedro on Tuesday night.

A flotilla of Tiger boats from Kadaikadu in the South of Vettilaikerni were launched around 4.30 p.m on Tuesday. Twenty four boats with four suicide boats came in four clusters heading towards Point Pedro embracing the beach head of Nagarkovil.

The Navy detected the Sea Tiger movement but deployed delaying tactics to take the advantage of the darkness to launch a major assault on the Tiger movement.

The Navy was aware that the Tiger boats were trying to take on the Navy in a confrontation as they did a few months earlier as they were aware that any night sea battle would not be in their favour.

In the meantime the Navy obtained the assistance of the Sri Lanka Army to get the flotilla of Tiger boats into the deep sea by launching a major fire on the flotilla of boats using Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRL). With

 the Sea Tiger boats coming under MBRL attack and the MI 24 helicopters swooping in, the Tigers moved further into deep sea and headed towards Point Pedro.

The intention of the Tiger boats was either to launch a major attack on Dvora Fast Attack Crafts deployed in the sea off Point Pedro on routine patrolling or to have major assault on Nagarkovil FDL in Jaffna thereby inducting their ground troops to Security Forces held areas.

However, the Naval Fast attack Craft deployed in the sea off Point Pedro launched a major attack on the Tiger boats when the flotilla of boats were six nautical Miles off North East of Point Pedro around 6 p.m.

As the first cluster of Tiger boats came under Naval fire, one Tiger boat was destroyed while causing damage to two other boats. The Sea Tiger cadres were completely dreaded after this boat was capsized in the Naval fire and made a desperate attempt to withdraw from the area dragging the capsized boat.

However, the attempt was thwarted as reinforcements from Trincomalee in four Dvoras launched another assault on the Tiger boats fleeing the area. Another four boats were damaged. Two boats caught fire taking the total number of Sea Tiger boats destroyed in the battle to five.

Nine other Tiger boats were also damaged in the Naval fire. Dvora Fast Attack Crafts of the Navy were engaged with the Tiger boats that were on a hasty withdrawal from Point Pedro area while Dvoras from the South were also engaged with the fleeing boats.

As they were caught in the middle of the Navy Fast Attack Craft the Tiger boats decided to beach their boats in Thalaiadi giving up their aim to return to Kadaiakadu North of Mullaitivu. The Navy completed their task by 11.30 pm as Tiger boats beached in Thalaiaadi. They were able to capture one of the biggest Tiger boats that capsized during the sea battle.

The Navy Fast Attack Craft took the risk to capture this Tiger boat amidst heavy resistance from the Tiger cadres cutting them off from reaching the area.

The FACs of the Navy towed the capsized boat to Kankesanturai harbour and Naval divers salvaged the boat.

That was the biggest Tiger boat captured by the Navy in the recent past. The 16.5 metres long Tiger boat was fixed with 14.5 mm twin barrel guns, MPMG guns and 250 HP out board motors.

The Navy believe that it was one of the command boats engaged in this sea battle. Four bodies of Tiger cadres were also recovered from the boat after it was taken to Kankesanthurai Harbour and later handed over to the ICRC to be handed over to the LTTE.

Further the LTTE radio transmissions monitored by the STF, Army and the Navy confirmed that around 40 Tiger cadres were killed during the battle. Ten bodies have also been washed ashore to the Thalaiadi coast and the LTTE had identified four bodies out of ten. The Navy could take the upper hand in the sea battle as they practised delaying tactics to confront the Sea Tiger boats taking cover of the darkness.

The Sea Tigers always take the advantage of the day time as they are not equipped with night vision equipment.

On the contrary the advanced thermal image systems, night vision systems and the stabilised long range weapon system fitted to the FACs put the Navy in a advanced position against the Sea Tigers.