Sri Lanka news columns

Ranil WIJAYAPALA Nachchikuda: The troops of Task Force I or the famously known 58 Division now in the western edge of the Kilinochchi district yesterday passed yet another milestone in their march towards Pooneryn completely capturing Nachchikuda the last stronghold of the LTTE on the Western coast before Pooneryn by last evening, Military sources announced yesterday. “With the capture of Nachchikuda the LTTE is left with only Pooneryn on the Western coast as the rest of the area between Nachchikuda and Pooneryn is covered with jungle patches,” commander of the Task Force I or the 58 Division, Brigadier Shavendra Silva told the Daily News. The LTTE faced two consecutive blows within 24 hours on the western edge of the Kilinochchi district as they lost two strategically important villages Jeyapuram and Nachchikuda, he said. The troops of the Task Force I or the 58 Division completely captured the 15 Km long LTTE defence line in the form of a massive earth bund surrounding the Nachchikud...

TN falls silent after MP Basil Rajapaksa’s visit Troops capture Tiger earth bunds Tiger air raid causes no major damage Task Force III to assail Tigers from another direction If there were any barriers for the troops, whether it was political pressure, international pressure or ground obstacles the situation has now been created for them to reach their objective- the defeat of the LTTE in their strongholds in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, after a long time has come out to express his views to the media, at least through his Political Chief Nadesan to tell the world about his existence and to praise Tamil Nadu politicians who were engaged in a futile exercise to exert pressure on the Central Government of India, to halt the military thrust on the LTTE in Sri Lanka. The significant fact that emerged this week was that all cries by the Tamil Nadu politicians went silent soon after the visit of Senior P...

Franz Fanon’s famous phrase “wretched of the earth” is quite applicable in the Sri Lanka of today to the civilian population inhabiting the northern mainland known as the “Wanni”. More than 200,000 internally displaced persons trapped in territory that was/is controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are in existential terms the wretched of the Sri Lankan “Wanni” earth. Legally, constitutionally and geographically they are people of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka entitled to full, inalienable rights. Yet these “De – Jure” citizens have for nearly two decades been denizens of a “De – Facto” administration of the “shadow” state of Tamil Eelam run by the LTTE. What is happening now is that the Sri Lankan state is re-asserting its dominance and writ over all parts of its legitimate territory and people. The armed forces are engaged in a ferocious military campaign for the avowed objective of “liberating” the people from the clutches of the LTTE. The tragic irony is that...

The military yesterday overran the strategically important Nachchikudah - another LTTE’s major Sea Tiger base in the northwestern coast, following fierce fighting with the rebels, the Defence Ministry said. “The LTTE which failed to secure its stronghold withdrew from the area as the security forces intensified their thrust, hours after they captured LTTE forward defences in the area,” the ministry said. Nachchikudah lies about 1.5 kilometres to the west of the strategic A-32 Mannar-Pooneryn highway which runs parallel to the northwestern coastal belt. A senior military official in the area said intense fighting between security forces personnel and rebels were reported from the area since October 17 and the LTTE suffered heavy casualties during these gun battles. “We have been fighting since two weeks and the LTTE tried to prevent the military entering Nachchikuda with its maximum fire power,” the official said. He said troops launched their onslaught on Nachchikudah from three direct...

COLOMBO (AP): Sri Lankan air force jets pounded a Tamil Tiger suicide fighters' base deep in the country's embattled north Thursday, and ground troops seized a major rebel defense line on the northwestern coast, the military said. The airstrike on the base of the Tamil Tiger suicide fighters, known as Black Tigers, in the rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu came during an intensified government offensive against the guerrillas' de facto state in the north. Officials have pledged to crush the rebels by the end of the year. Air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said pilots confirmed the attack was successful, but details of damage and casualties were not immediately available. In the infantry clashes, soldiers fought intense gunbattles for nearly two weeks before capturing the rebel fortifications in Nachchikuda, a rebel coastal stronghold, on Wednesday evening, the Defense Ministry said. Troops ``launched a multi-pronged offensive and marched toward Nachchikuda fr...

by Shamindra Ferdinando Army operations west of the A9 have reached a decisive stage with troops overrunning the main LTTE defence line at Nachchikuda hours after regaining strategically located Jeyapuram, 6 km north-east of Nachchikuda. The LTTE Wednesday morning abandoned Jeyapuram after several days of fighting. Troops moved in after a heavy artillery bombardment targeted LTTE fortifications in an area of about four sq. km. Fighting elements of the Task Force I have launched clearing operations in the area as they fought their way towards Nachchikuda, the main Sea Tiger base on the north-western coast. The army late last evening overran Nachchikuda defences. The LTTE lost Vidattaltivu Sea Tiger base on July 16th. A senior military official based in Vavuniya told The Island that the fall of Jeyapuram had facilitated a multi-pronged offensive directed at Nachchikuda. According to him, Jeyapuram, situated east of the Mannar-Pooneryn (A32) main road had been the main obstacle faced by t...

චන්ද්‍රිකා පෙරේරා, භක්ති ධර්මප‍්‍රිය මෙන්ඩිස් සහ මහින්ද කුලතුංග සහ වෙල්ලස්සේ බණ්ඩාර එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් ගේ උතුරේ ප‍්‍රධානතම බළකොටුවක් වූ නච්චිකුඩා ප‍්‍රදේශයේත් ජයපුරම් ගම්මානයේ සහ අක්කරායන්කුලම් කොටි ආරක්ෂක බැම්මේ බලය මුළුමනින්ම අත්පත් කර ගැනීමට ඊයේ (29) සවස් වනවිට ආරක්ෂක හමුදාවෝ සමත් වූහ. මෙම ප‍්‍රදේශ ආරක්ෂක හමුදාව අත්පත් කර ගැනීමත් සමඟ කොටින්ගේ සියලු සැපයුම් මාර්ග ඔවුනට අහිමි වී ඇතැයි ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳ මාධ්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානය පවසයි. මෙම ප‍්‍රදේශවල බලය තහවුරු කර ගැනීමට සති ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ ගැටුම් පැවැතිණි. කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ කිළිනොච්චියට භාණ්ඩ ප‍්‍රවාහනය කරන ප‍්‍රධාන සැපයුම් මාර්ගය වැටී ඇති ජයපුරම් ගම්මානය අත්පත් කර ගැනීම ඊයේ පෙරවරුවේදී සිදුකෙරිණි. කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ නච්චිකුඩා ඉදිරි ආරක්ෂක වළල්ල ඊයේ (19) සවස වනවිට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ආරක්ෂක හමුදාව අත්පත් කර ගත්තේය. යුද හමුදාවේ 58 වැනි සේනාංකාධිපති බි‍්‍රගේඩියර් ෂවීන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා මහතාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් මෙම ඉදිරි ආරක්ෂක වළල්ල සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම තම අණසක යටතට ගෙන තිබේ. නච්චිකුඩා ප‍්‍රදේශයේ සති ගණනාවක සිට ඉතාමත් දරුණු ගැටුම් පැවැති අතර මෙම ඉදිරි...

Jeyapuram, Akkrayankulam tank bund, 12 km defences fall to Army: Ranil WIJAYAPALA Nachchikuda: The 58 Division troops operating in the western edge of the Kilinochchi district yesterday kept the momentum of their speedy advance into Tiger held territory completely capturing the Jeyapuram village the last village in the Western part of Kilinochchi district and the 12 km long LTTE defence line south of Nachchikuda. Troops of the 57 Division also made a major breakthrough yesterday capturing a 1.5 Km long heavily fortified Akkrayankulam tank bund further clearing their path towards Akkarayan village and Kilinochchi, Military sources said. “With the capture of the Nachchikuda LTTE defence line and the Akkarayankulam tank bund the troops of the 57 Division and 58 division are now in full control of the LTTE defence line from Nachchikuda on the A-32 road to A-9 road in the South of Kilinochchi and in strong position to further advance into the LTTE held areas,” a senior Army official told th...

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana Troops captured two vital positions on the Kilinochchi battlefront yesterday -- a large built up area called Jayapuram and the entire earth bund Army capture built along the Akkarayankulam Tank. Army Task Force 1 took control of the LTTE stronghold Jayapuram, located Northeast of Nachchikudah in Kilinochchi District last morning. According to military sources, Jayapuram is a highly built up area comprising many houses and some state offices and business establishments controlled by the LTTE adjacent to its administrative capital Kilinochchi. When the troops entered Jayapuram, the area was deserted, and Tiger cadres and civilians (who were forcibly held) were believed to have withdrawn towards the North. Troops from Task Force 1 are now in the process of clearing the area and intensifying security, the Media Centre for National Security said. Meanwhile, the Army’s 58 Division, yesterday, completely captured the 25 kilometre long earth bund (built by the LTTE, No...

by Norman Palihawadana Since Vinayagmoorthi Muralidaran (Karuna) and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan had joined civil society as normal citizens through the UNP, there was no war situation in the Eastern Province, Galle District UNP member Vajira Abeywardena said yesterday (27). Similarly, Prabhakaran too could be brought into normal civilian society. Neither of the two sides to the armed conflict in the North could win the war and it was necessary to start peace talks with Prabhakaran now, Abeywardena said. Asked for his comment Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said it was necessary to continue the war against terrorism in the North. Even India wanted terrorism eradicated. There was no question of stopping the war against the LTTE. India was only concerned about the welfare and problems of civilians of the North who were displaced or affected by the war especially with regard to food supplies. The government continued to send adequate food supplies to the north, he said. The Defenc...

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 ...

by Col. R Hariharan There is a lot of excitement as the Sri Lanka security forces are inching towards Kilinochchi from the southwest on multiple axes. The political tensions in Tamil Nadu over the plight of Tamil civilians in the war zone have added a bit of nervous expectation in Sri Lanka to the war scene. Broadly the security forces have enlarged the forward line roughly by eight km on the west of Kilinochi, isolating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) stronghold of Nachikuda on the western coast. Task Force 1 which had bypassed Nachikuda, captured Manniyankulam and Vannrikulamon its advance along the A32 route to Pooneryn. Thus the LTTE access to sea routes to Tamil Nadu from the northern Mannar coast will probably come to an end shortly with these developments. The57 Division, earlier locked in battle at the key road junction of Akkarayankulam (which leads to Kilinochchi in the north and the A9 highway in the east), has "pierced" its defences. According to the...

MICHAEL RICHARDSON 22/10/2008 9:57:00 AM Sri Lanka's Government says its armed forces are in the final stage of a campaign to annihilate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebel group that has been fighting for 25 years to carve out a homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east of the island state. Some hardliners in the Sinhalese-dominated Government and military claim the rebels will be wiped out by the end of the year. In the history of modern counter-insurgency, this would be a rare armed victory over a potent uprising one that would stand in stark contrast to the failure of the United States, NATO and Australian forces in Afghanistan to crush a resurgent Taliban. China has provided arms and other assistance to the Sri Lankan Government in its fight against Tiger separatism. But some of Sri Lanka's friends worry that advances by government troops into Tigers' strongholds in the north of the country in recent months are sowing seeds of disaster. They cautio...

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The humanitarian mission in the North is going according to plan, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said yesterday. “We have cleared the major obstacles including the earth bunds the LTTE had built,” he told a gathering of senior media personnel. He said the Forces were aware that at one point the LTTE would muster their maximum resistance. The Forces also expected rain. “We have to take opportunities. The Forces commanders are confident that their targets can be met.” He said the recent visit to Russia by a defence delegation was very fruitful in terms of defence cooperation and intelligence sharing. Speaking at the same gathering, Minister Douglas Devananda said many in Tamil Nadu did not know the ground realities in the Wanni. Although there is some support for the LTTE in Tamil Nadu, most leaders were not speaking on behalf of the LTTE. “The LTTE is keeping the civilians in the Wanni by force, although the majority would like to cross over to the cleared areas.” The EPDP plans ...

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