Two suspected Tamil tiger arms transport vessels were intercepted by the Sri Lankan navy (SLN) today at around 9.30AM and at 12.30PM. The suspected ships were detected 400Km off Pothuvil coast.
First suspicious ship was detected by SLN's offshore patrol boats patrolling the eastern seas. The ship was not able to correctly identify itself upon request of identification data. Naval vessels which tried to close in and surround the suspicious ship were hit by rounds of medium caliber armament fire. Navy returned fire and the retaliatory fire caused several explosions in the suspected ship. By 9AM the suspicious ship was completely destroyed and was submerged in the sea. Later, another ship was detected in the same area. This ship, which was traveling without a flag, fired at the SLN gunboats when ordered to identify itself. This ship too was sunk due to retaliation fire from SLN gunboats.
Judging by the explosions which occurred after the ships were hit, it can be concluded that they had a significant amount of explosives on board. Exact type of weapons which were on board is not yet determined. The first ship was 70-75m long and could carry around 1500-2000 tonnes of cargo. Second ship was smaller than the first but it had the capability to around 750-1000 tonnes of cargo.
This is the second major tiger arms transport intercepted by the Navy during the month of March. Tigers lost a $35 million (LKR 3.5 Billion) worth of arms and a $70 million (LKR 7 Billion) worth large ship in the previous incident.
Almost all the SL news reports state that these suspected arms carrying ships fired back at SLN vessels. From a Tiger perspective what is the rationale in firing at SLN with small calibre weapons? Its a given that the SLN will retaliate with all they got and sink them. It brings us down to two questions. 1) The Tiger vessels don't fire at the SLN at all, the SLN uses it as a standard excuse to justify their actions. 2) The LTTE actually fires at the SLN craft provoking them for a gun battle in which they know that they will all die but its better than being captured and the cargo identified with the source.
ReplyDeleteDoubt that they're firing on the Navy in order too trigger an attack. In the past, most Tiger arms ships were rigged for self destruction in the event of boarding or capture. Sounds more like option 1.
ReplyDeleteDoubt that they're firing on the Navy in order to trigger an attack. In the past, most Tiger arms ships were rigged for self destruction in the event of boarding or capture. This is fairly easy to do if you're transporting explosives! Why risk having just the personnel killed aand the ship captured? Sounds more like option 1.
ReplyDeleteTiger vessels did fire on SLN patrol boats first. This is confirmed and is not a lie.
ReplyDeleteDefencenet, I didn't say it was a lie. I just chose option 1 over 2. It's not unlikely that the ships fired on the Navy, just that the reason being suicide is unlikely.
ReplyDeleteJiffy, let's just be happy we're nailing these ships.
As far as i know 2 Beech HISARs were Grounded for maintenance..
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the sinking of these two ships has cause a shortage of ammunition and arms to the Tigers, emphasizes the need to strengthen the navy more.
ReplyDeleteWe need to have a separate Naval Air Wing, equipped with good long range ocean reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft like the P-3C or TU-95. We need faster and more heavily armed FACs and OPVs.
If we can cut off the flow of arms and ammunition to the LTTE, then it would make it harder for them to launch large scale Operations against our FDLs.