Sri Lanka news columns

by Shamindra Ferdinando The SLAF struck at a Black Tiger training facility north-west of Puthukkudirippu shortly before JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said the government had suspended air strikes due to growing Indian pressure. SLAF headquarters said that jets launched from Katunayake had zeroed-in-on the target at 10 a.m. Dismissing Amarasinghe’s claim, an authoritative military official told The Island that the SLAF took a range of targets over the past several days. Wednesday evening, the 57 Division had called close air support to thwart an LTTE counter attack on the Akkarayankulam tank bund. Responding to The Island queries, the official said that a blackout on air operations or any other military activity for that matter shouldn’t be perceived as suspension of operations. Addressing a press conference at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI), Amarasinghe, flanked by JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said India had forced President Mahinda Raj...

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...

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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 Tuesday’s failure to shoot down a single LTTE aircraft despite timely detection by radar has jolted the SLAF into investigating its limitations amidst evidence that the enemy has acquired a capability to neutralise the threat of a heat seeking missile attack. An authoritative source said that Chinese F7s launched from Katunayake air base had failed to zero-in-on the enemy aircraft. "Their (F7s) missile systems failed to ‘lock on with the enemy aircraft," the source said. This would necessitate an overall review of the SLAF’s strategy, the source said. The military asserted that the LTTE could try to exploit the situation. The initial detection had been made north-east of Mannar at 10.18 p.m. by 2D radar installed by the Government of India at the SLAF base at Vavuniya. Thaladdi had come under attack within minutes after the detection, the source said. Both the Indian radar and a Chinese 3D radar station located in the Western Province had detected the ...

Call to end war in Sri Lanka Congress, DMK alliance “very strong” SIVAGANGA: Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has condemned pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam speeches and activities in the State. Speaking to reporters at Karaikudi on Sunday, he said dangerous speeches could not be accepted and would not help Sri Lankan Tamils in any manner. The State government had taken action against them. Those who delivered dangerous speeches should realise their mistake and change themselves. Refusing to comment on the ultimatum of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to the Centre to stop the war in Sri Lanka, he said that he had discussed the Sri Lankan Tamils issue with Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee and Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also held a discussion. Sri Lankan envoy Basil Rajapaksa had come to New Delhi for a discussion. He hoped that there would be an acceptable solution to the issue. Stating that India had not extended any milita...

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...

යූ. එම්. රුවන් – දික්වැල්ල සමූහ දික්වැල්ල වලස්ගලට ඉහළ අහසේ පෙරේදා (28) රාත‍්‍රි 7.00 ත් 7.30 ත් අතර කාලයේ සැහැල්ලු ගුවන් යානයක් ඉතා පහළින් පියාසර කරන අයුරු ප‍්‍රදේශවාසීන් දැක තිබේ. අඩි 100 ක් 125 ක් අතර උසකින් විදුලි බුබුළු දල්වා ගත් අඩි 04 ක් පමණ දිගින් යුත් යානයක් පියාසර කර තිබෙන බව ප‍්‍රදේශවාසීහු කියති. ප‍්‍රදේශවාසී ඩේවිඩ් ඒකනායක මහතා පැවසුවේ තී‍්‍රරෝද රථයකින් කුලී ගමනක් ගොස් ආපසු එමින් සිටියදී පොල් ගසක් පමණ උසින් යුත් ඉහළ අහසේ විදුලි බුබුලු දල්වා ගත් යානයක් ගමන් ගත් බවයි. එම යානය කඩා වැටෙනු ඇතැයි තමා සිතූ බව ද ඔහු කීය. වෙළෙඳ ව්‍යාපාරිකයකු වන අනුර විජේසිංහ මහතා පැවසුවේ කිසිම ශබ්දයක් නොමැතිව දික්වැල්ල දිසාවේ සිට ඉතාමත් පහළින් විදුලි බුබුලු දල්වාගෙන කුඩා ගුවන් යානයක් බෙලිඅත්ත දිසාවට පියාසර කරමින් එක පාරටම හරවන අයුරු දුටු බවයි. Source

විජයානි එදිරිසිංහ ප‍්‍රභූවරයකු ඝාතනය කිරීමේ නියෝගය ලැබෙන තෙක් කොළඹ තාවකාලික නවාතැන්පළක (ලොජ්) ලැඟුම් ගෙන සිටි මරාගෙන මැරෙන කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදියකු පිටකොටුව පොලීසිය මගින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන තිබේ. ජී. මනෝහරන් (40) හෙවත් සුදර්ශන් නමැති මෙම ත‍්‍රස්තවාදියා අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇත්තේ පිටකොටුවේ ප‍්‍රධාන පෙළේ නවාතැන්පළක සිටිය දී ලැබුණ ඔත්තුවක් මත බව බව පොලිස් මාධ්‍ය ප‍්‍රකාශක ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස්අධිකාරී රංජිත් ගුණසේකර මහතා පැවසීය. සැකකරුගේ ගමන් මල්ලේ තිබී ග‍්‍රෑම් 300ක අධිබලැති සී – 4 පුපුරන ද්‍රව්‍ය දැමූ කාල බෝම්බයක් ද සොයාගෙන ඇත. ඩෙටනේටර් සහ සෙසු ආම්පන්න යොදා යම් තැනක තබා පුපුරුවා හැරීමට එම බෝම්බය සකස් කර තිබූ බව ද පොලීසිය කියයි. මීට සති කීපයකට පෙර පිටකොටුවේ ඇපල් තට්ටුවක් යට කුඩා කාල බෝම්බයක් තබා පුපුරුවා හැර ඇත්තේ ද සැකකරු බව හෙළි වී තිබේ. මොහුට කොළඹදී ජීවත් වීමට අවශ්‍ය මුදල් සහ ඔහු ගේ පවුලේ අයට වියදමට අවශ්‍ය මුදල් ප‍්‍රංශයේ සිටින කොටි හිතවාදියකු විසින් එවන බව ද ප‍්‍රකාශ කර ඇත. යාපනය විශ්වමඩු අලවෙඩ්ඩි ප‍්‍රදේශයේ පදිංචිකරුවකු වන සැකකරු මරාගෙන මැරෙන කල්ලියට බඳවාගෙන තිබෙන්නේ බලහත්කාරයෙන් බව ද තමාට පැවරුනු කාර්ය...

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...

Air Force says LTTE plane was tracked from Mannar to Colombo By Jamila Najmuddin and Senaka de Silva Theories and more theories emerged yesterday as to how the LTTE aircraft which bombed Mannar and then the Kelanitissa power plant, managed to evade being shot down by the Air Force despite flying such a distance. However the Air Force, while admitting the Tiger aircraft had managed to escape, ruled out at least one assumption that the Tiger aircraft involved in the raid in Mannar went undetected until it reached Colombo to take out its target. Defence sources said that two aircraft had taken off from Iranamadu and headed towards Mannar and Colombo. The Army’s 57th Division which operates along the front lines had detected the two aircraft on its radars and informed Colombo. The Air Force had then deployed F-7, MI- 24 and PT6 aircrafts to bring down the Tiger plane. According to Air Force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara a light Mystery LTTE aircraft dropped two bombs on the...

Karaikudi (PTI): Denying that the Union Government was extending any military help to Sri Lanka, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday said that the Centre only wanted Tamils in Sri Lanka to get equal opportunities. "Only Pakistan and China are extending military help to the Island," he said. Speaking to reporters here, he recalled the efforts taken by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to resolve the island's ethnic issue and charged LTTE with being mainly responsible for the failure of the Indo-Sri Lankan accord, as it had not cooperated for its implementation. He claimed that he himself had told LTTE leader Prabhakaran that the ethnic strife could be resolved only through talks. "But LTTE strayed from the peace process," he said. Chidambaram refused to comment on the resignation threat of MPs from Tamil Nadu on the Sri Lankan issue and said the Union Government wanted Tamils and Sinhalese live in peace in the island. He also denied that there was mov...

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...

Rafik Jalaldeen An LTTE suspect arrested along with a suicide jacket committed suicide in Wellawatte on Sunday, police spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunasekera said. The Terrorist Investigation Division arrested the LTTE suspect on Friday in Wellawatte. The suspect was identified as S.Sambanthan, a resident of Trincomalee. Following interrogation, Sambanthan disclosed to the TID about another LTTE suspect M.Jeyaraj Thaninayagam, a resident of Muttur who was temporarily living in Weligampitiya, Ja-Ela. The latter revealed that he was an LTTE cadre hiding a suicide jacket in Wellawatte. “The TID accompanied LTTE suspect Thaninayagam to his hideout at around 2.30 am on Sunday and unearthed the suicide jacket at a house in Wellawatte. When the team was returning the suspect swallowed cyanide”, SSP Gunasekera told the Daily News. Thaninayagam died on admission to the Colombo National Hospital. Source

The Tamil Nadu Government Monday denied the claims of opposition leader J. Jayalalithaa of her impending arrest by the state police. ‘The allegation is a figment of her imagination and not based on any fact,’ Director General of Police K.P. Jain said in a press release here. Jayalalitha, AIADMK chief, said in a statement Sunday evening that she has been informed by top police officials that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has ordered her arrest. (IANS)

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 ...