Thursday, May 31, 2007

Commando units move deeper into Thoppigala jungles

SLA commando units spearheading the eastern offensive advanced further into the dense jungles of Thoppigala reaching another milestone today. Advancing commandos have captured several strategic points in the region with the help of SLA light infantry, artillery and rocket regiments.

Meanwhile, military intelligence have learnt that most major LTTE leaders in the eastern province have fled to Wanni. Those who are lower in the LTTE command structure have been left to fight a battle that is seemingly impossible to win. Special Forces, Commandos and light infantry have virtually surrounded the tiger territory leaving very few escape routes for the trapped LTTE cadres.Video: Exclusive Al-Jazeera TV footage of the Thoppigala offensive. Video shows the army capture a key bridge in the area. Click here to read the full Al-Jazeera news article. 

Army's Long Range Surveillance (LRS) units operating in the northern province carried our several successful assaults on key LTTE  intelligence wing members during the past week. More details on these assaults cannot be revealed for security reasons. Increased LRS activity in the north is said to be one of the major concerns of LTTE leadership as of now.

24 comments:

  1. are the soldiers on this video LRS? (at 3:50 there's a very nice group shot of them in the background).

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  2. I think they are SFs, not LRS.

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  3. Those guys are regulars during infantry training.

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  4. thanks mal and uthum. so the guys taking the reporter on mission are SF?

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  5. If I understood this right, these guys are not LRRPs or LRS team of special forces. What we see are regular infantry. I would be extremely suprised if the army embedded Al-Jazeera reporters in LRRP missions or SF missions.

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  6. Any way its good to see we having a progress in thoppigala.
    When I spoke to my SBS friends they said some commandos also in action in thoppiglala.

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  7. Soldiers shown in video are regular infantry units. LRRP team videos, photos or names will never be published on this site.

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  8. Hasalanka

    Nice to know someone else who knows the SBS Guys... Many of thier past CO's and officers are some of my closest freinds in the Navy. The SBS really kicked ass and proved thier worth during the Muttur Op.

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  9. Yankeezulu, Hasalaka,
    If it is not too much to ask could you tell us something about the SBS? What is their modus operandi and what kind of vehicles they use and what kind of operations they get involved in?

    Thanks.

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  10. Yes please guys post some information about SBS and if u have some info about the Airforce special unit too.

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  11. It may not be a good idea to post information about SBS or any other special unit including what equipment they use.

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  12. Defencenet:
    How far away from we re-capturing the Toppigala? Should be closer to few KM ?
    Then matter of days as the time frame?

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  13. dewey,
    Putting classified information is not gud I accept that but you need to know that lot of information can be collected from various news papers and websites about the weapons and tactics. (WE SHUD NEVER MENTION NAMES OF STARTEGIES of these heroes). But even the navy.lk website has SBS troop pictures and there we can clearly see the weapons that they use.

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  14. Btw guy's the latest news from SL is that the government has asked all tamils living in Colombo lodges as temporary tenants to leave.
    I think this is a HUGE mistake. I live in the UK and I can't imagine the British government asking the muslim community in London to leave the city after the 7/7 bombings.
    The tamil community is the best weapon we have in our arsenal to stop the LTTE. They are potentially a valuable source of intelligence which is the key to stopping all these bombs going off in Colombo.
    No amount of random searches, roadblocks or soldiers in street corners will ever stop a suicide bomber or other terrorist act as for example the well publicised weapons recoveries from trucks in the South were as a result of prior intelligence!

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  15. kanishka,
    what are you talking.the government has not asked tamils in colombo to move out.only less than 0.1% tamils live in lodges in colombo.this includes almost all the terrorists in the city.if you analyse the past terrorist activity we can clearly say that all of those operatives have at some stage stayed at a so called lodges.especially as they first enter the south they foot know thier way around so they confine themselves to lodges until they are familiar with the city map.it is almost strange how much this people shout everytime the government does something new aimed at the benefit of the peaceful majority.i i did not here those concerns about poor victims of athavatunuweva who are being flushed out of their villages by the LTTE barbarians. I am sure you have not seen any examples like that in england kanishka? Have you:-D

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  16. Guys the police has recovered the biggest explosives stock is sri lanka today in nikaveratiya.almost one ton of c4 explosives have been recovered.this is top work by the police who never get praise for anything.i think that the government and the private sector should get together and reward each of this officer with ten million RS.i am sure the cost of doing so would be much less than the destruction that would have caused,had there explosived managed to reach their target.also the tiger barbarians captured should be stoned to death.

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  17. Tamilnet claims that the army is on the verge of a major offensive into the LTTE held areas in north.defence net can you update us on this.
    If this is true i wish all the best for our brave heroes.may the blessings of triple gem be with you.

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  18. Don't misunderstand me n300, I perfectly understand the logic behind the move by the government. But what I tried to get at was the fact that they have generalised all tamils living in temporary accommodation to get at the 0.1% that cause trouble and ordered all of them to get out. This 0.1% should have been targetted via our intelligence networks then monitored to see who they associate with and then apprehend them for questioning QUIETLY! Now we are trying to show the world that most of the sri lankan tamils live among other communities outside of the wanni in peace. How would this be interpretted by the dreaded human rights people.
    We have to think about the future political landscape as well. With the American presidential race hotting up it is looking increasingly likely that the Democrats would come to power. And it is thought by many analysts that if this does happen then the US may even push for a UN settlement to our problem if the fighting goes on for that long; which is highly likely!
    UN sttlement = Creation of Eelam (just like Bosnia)

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  19. Dont worry more reporters will be embedded with these units in the future to show the truth

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  20. Kanishka:

    in regards to your comments about US presidency

    yes, democrats may come to power....but it depends who gets elected..hillary will keep same policy

    if juliani gets elected we will see a similar policy to hillary

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  21. Sri Lanka turns to Pakistan, China for military needs

    By IANS
    Saturday June 2, 10:32 AM

    New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) Unmindful of India's opposition to Sri Lanka turning to Pakistan and China for military hardware to bolster its offensive against the Tamil Tigers, Colombo has recently inked several significant defence agreements with Beijing.

    Citing exclusive access to an internal Sri Lankan cabinet document, Britain's renowned Jane's Defence Weekly reported that Sri Lanka had signed a classified $37.6 million deal with China's Poly Technologies in April to supply its defence forces with ammunition and ordnance for the army and navy in addition to varied small arms.

    Gotabaya Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan defence secretary and a brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, told Indian authorities May 30 that 'security compulsions' were driving Colombo to seek military equipment from China, Pakistan and other suppliers.

    He is also believed to have informed India's security establishment that Colombo 'understood' New Delhi's internal political compulsions, foreclosing enhanced military co-operation between the neighbours.

    The Sri Lankan official was reportedly making a direct reference to Tamil Nadu, which is separated from Sri Lanka by a strip of sea and where there is considerable support for the Tamil guerrillas.

    Senior security officials concede that a bilateral defence agreement between Colombo and New Delhi drawn up over two years ago remains 'hostage' to India's Tamil concerns. This, in turn, forces Colombo to seek alternate weapon suppliers.

    Janes' current edition says that Colombo has declined to renew its long standing agreement with China's North Industries Corporation (Norinco) for defence equipment, opting instead for Poly Technologies, founded as a rival in 1984 by Beijing's military establishment.

    While outwardly a subsidiary of the China International Trust and Investment Corp, military analysts said that in reality the Beijing-based Poly Technologies was a 'front company' for China's military-industrial complex.

    It reports to the armament department of the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department and is authorized to sell conventional military equipment including short and medium-range ballistic missiles.

    While the reasons for the Sri Lankan government switching to Poly Technologies appear unclear, it seems the change was prompted by the debt of $200 million it owed Norinco, which has maintained a bonded warehouse in the southern port city of Galle since 1993.

    Colombo's long-standing agreement with Norinco was exclusive, prohibiting it from sourcing specific military items from any another Chinese supplier.

    The contract with Poly Technologies, however, contravenes this clause, seemingly invalidating the earlier agreement providing the Sri Lankan military an alternate materiel supplier, Jane's states.

    The agreement with Poly Technologies, however, 'aims to avoid the development of any debt through a system of staggered payments', Jane's says, necessitating an advance 25 percent payment and the balance payable in 10 quarterly installments.

    The largest single order with Poly Technologies is for 120 mm mortar shells for the army, of which 70,000 rounds are priced at $10.4 million.

    Additional imports include 68,000 rounds of varied 152 mm artillery shell worth nearly $20 million besides 50,000 81 mm high-explosive mortar bombs for $3.7 million, all of which the army needs to reinforce its 'pro-active' military strategy against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

    The navy's requirement valued at$ 2.7 million includes a varied range of ammunition like 100,000 14.5 mm cartridges, 2,000 RPG-7 rockets and 500 81 mm airburst mortar shells.

    There are also 50 Type 82 14.5 mm twin-barrel naval guns, 200 Type 85 12.7 mm heavy machine guns, 200 Type 80 7.62 mm multipurpose machine guns, 1,000 Type 56-2 7.62 mm submachine guns and 1,000 Type 56 7.62 mm submachine guns, Jane's reports.

    China, meanwhile, is also helping Sri Lanka augment its air defence capability following four recent strikes by the fledgling Tamil Tiger air force that has resulted in international airlines declining to operate night flights to Colombo.

    Jane's declared that the China National Electronics Import Export Corp is to provide Sri Lanka a JY 11 3D radar for $5 million over the next few weeks once the site for its location near Colombo is ready.

    It was Gotabaya Rajapakse, the defence secretary who concluded the contract for the radar for the Lanka Logistics and Technologies Co Ltd that he heads.

    Colombo had initially ordered the JY 11 radar two years ago, making payments in advance but was forced to call off the deal following Indian protests that the system would 'over arch' into its air space.

    Thereafter, India supplied Sri Lanka two Indra IN-PC-2D radars free of charge and is believed to have agreed to Colombo's request for at least one more following the spate of LTTE air raids.

    The Indra radars have become a source of tension with India, with some Sri Lankan officials claiming they failed to detect the ingress by a Tamil Tiger propeller aircraft to an air force base outside Colombo in March. Three airmen were killed and 16 wounded in the attack.

    Sri Lanka is also negotiating with the Chinese conglomerate for three additional mobile radars for use across the country as the second Tiger air strike was conducted against the government's Palaly military base in Jaffna peninsula.

    In an associated development, Sri Lanka is also planning on acquiring an unspecified number of MiG 29 fighters to boost its air power.

    The director of Aeronautical Engineering, Air Vice Marshal Prashantha de Silva, is scheduled to visit Moscow to discuss the acquisition, states Jane's.

    Indian defence sources said New Delhi, which also operates at least three MiG 29 squadrons, could play an 'important' role in Sri Lanka's proposed purchase of similar fighters by agreeing to provide training, spares, servicing and other logistic back-up.

    Sri Lankan officials are also planning visiting Ulan Ude in Russia to negotiate the purchase of four helicopter gunships and to Ukraine for talks on overhauling and possibly upgrading An 32 transport aircraft.

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  22. dear defencenet, any additional details on this event?
    *************
    Heavy attacks in Pompaimadu

    Five soldiers died and 15 more were wounded yesterday when LTTE artillery fire targeted a military gun position at Pompaimadu, Vavuniya 11 miles off the Omanthai Forward Defence Lines, defence sources revealed.

    An ammunition dump was also blasted when the Tigers directed a barrage of artillery fire from the direction of Omanthai towards Pompaimadu and the newly created 57 Division in Mannar.
    Soldiers and Tigers fought two battles in the north yesterday that left four LTTE cadresdead, the military said.

    Fighting broke out early Saturday across the border that separates government and Tiger territory in Omanthai village, officials said.
    Three guerrillas were killed and one soldier was wounded in the battle, the defence ministry said.
    Hours later in Vavuniya, south of Omanthai, soldiers and rebels clashed and later troops recovered the body of a guerrilla, according to the military.

    Also Saturday, air force planes bombed two rebel bases in Thoppigala, one of the last guerrilla strongholds in the east, spokesman Group Capt. Ajantha Silva said.
    ***********

    From the nation newspaper.

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  23. LankaEnews has even reported that 2 artilary guns have been destroyed by the attack.Defence.lk and army.lk and MCNS is keeping a tight lib on this siiue(means that something bad has happened). Defencenet pls update us on this issue!!

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