'Mahasohon Brigade' Returns

Several years ago (just before the CFA agreement was signed), mysterious incidents began to happen in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory. Unexplained claymore mine explosions took place near tiger safe houses and sometimes even inside their own bases. Some of these explosions targeted senior LTTE leaders. One bomb exploded near a safe house which was used by the LTTE leader himself. Tiger air wing leader (who was the right hand man of LTTE leadership at that time), Shankar was killed in one such explosion. Terror spread through LTTE bases and the most surprising thing was that no one knew what was going on. Even the media, who always had inside information about everything, couldn’t explain these mysterious incidents. It was speculated that the cause of these explosions was an internal conflict of LTTE.

Little did the tigers know (and the media) that a deep penetration unit of the Sri Lankan army had infiltrated tiger defense lines and were operating deep inside enemy territory. These elite units were known as the LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol or "Digu Dura Wihidum Balakaya" in Sinhalese). They were better known in the military by the name "Mahasohon Brigade". Mahasona is a fierce demon who is mentioned in Srilankan folklore. This unit was so named because it gave LTTE what Mahasona in folklore was famous for; the element of fear. Activity of this unit was one of the main reasons tigers agreed for peace talks.

All was well until a traitor to the motherland named Kulasiri Udugampola, driven by greed and political powers, raided LRRP safe house in Millennium City. He released a list of names of those who were involved in the operations which the media published without hesitation. This helped the LTTE to hunt down the heroic units one by one, under the cover of the CFA. More than 80 LRRP personnel were assassinated by the LTTE. For the next 6 years, there was no news of this unit making it an element of the past.

Now let's zoom back to the present; few days before the mass ground troop movement to the recently captured Vakarai region began. During one night, 10 different claymore mines exploded in 10 different locations in then LTTE held territory, targeting regional leaders and tiger foot patrols. This caused the LTTE regional leader Swarnam (wounded by an airstrike) flee into the jungles of Trikonamadu. After Vakarai, several unexplained explosions went off in rebel bases in the north. Several more claymores struck sea tiger base supply routes. LRRP has returned.

Reformed LRRP unit is now a part of 3rd Special Forces regiment. Since reformation, it's been able to carry out several successful strikes at critical tiger movements not only in the east but even 25kms inside rebel held Mullathiv jungles. There is no doubt that the tiger leaders are already feeling the fiery heat of the "Mahasohon brigade".