Saturday, December 22, 2007

Fighting continues in Mannar, Vavuniya, Jaffna and Weli Oya fronts

Even though the Cease fire agreement signed between the GOSL (Government of Sri Lanka) and LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in 2002 continues to hold on paper, undeclared 4th Eelam war has been raging across four different battlefronts in the northern province.

During the past week, more than 30 LTTE cadres have been killed in a number of firefights along the forward defense lines. The army too has suffered casualties in these confrontations with 5 soldiers killed and a further 14 injured. In contrast to the soaring LTTE casualties, SLA casualties have been minimal due to new battlefield tactics employed under the command of Major General Sarath Fonseka. However, advancing into LTTE held territory has proven difficult due to both severe resistance and heavily mined, booby trapped terrain. Limited operations are still continuing across Mannar and Vavuniya despite these obstacles as their main objective is not territorial gains. According to intelligence reports, LTTE's command bunkers in Mannar and Vavuniya fronts (manned by Jeyam and Bhanu) have been moved 4-5 Kilometers into LTTE held territory after the latest rounds of fighting.

Meanwhile LTTE's senior leadership has further limited public appearances with the recent SLAF bombing on Prabhakaran's safe house. LTTE intelligence leader for Wanni has been replaced by Pottu Amman's orders immediately after the raid. MI has also revealed that LTTE are building more safe houses in civilian populated areas to protect its senior leadership including Sornam, Balraj, Theepan, Soosei and Cheliyan. 

Although it may seem unbelievable, latest addition to the LTTE's growing number of troubles has been the torrential rain. According to intelligence reports, a number of LTTE camps including training and logistics bases in the Pooneryn Sector have been damaged due to  the floods caused by heavy rain.

Meanwhile with the addition of 30000 troops within this year, the number of divisions in SLA command structure has risen to 13. Three divisions out of these 13 are newly raised offensive formations. Refer to the table below for more details.

Division

Headquarters

Current Role/Notes

11th

Panagoda

Logistics, training and support staff.

21st

Gajasinghapura

Defensive operations in Eastern province.

22nd

Trincomalee

Defensive operations in Eastern province.

23rd

Welikanda

Defensive operations in Eastern province.

51st

Jaffna

Defensive/search operations in Jaffna town

52nd

Varani

Defensive/search operations.

53rd

Mirusuvil

Elite fighting formation. Deployed as a reserve force to be used in an attack against Jaffna. Sometimes used to attack LTTE FDLs along the national front (Muhamalai/Kilali/Nagarkovil). Mechanized Infantry Division recently added.

54th

-

Not active. Destroyed in the battle for Elephant Pass in 2001.

55th

Muhamalai

Pre emptive strikes on LTTE FDLs in the north.

56th

Kok Eliya

Defensive operations in Northern province including Vavuniya and Omanthai

57th

Vavuniya

Offensive formation. Advancing towards Wanni thorough Thampanai and Vilathikulam.

58th

-

Offensive formation. Division not officially raised. Currently known as Task Force 01. Advancing towards Vidaththalthivu through Adamapan.

59th

Weli Oya

Offensive formation. Pre emptive strikes against LTTE FDL ahead of Weli-Oya. High likelihood to launch an invasion into Wanni through Weli Oya sector.

81 comments:

  1. Thank you Defencenet for the very informative update..

    It is sad to learn that 54 th division was inactive/distroyed in 2001.We will never forget the sacrifices of those brave men who laid down their lives for this country.


    May the force be with you forever to move on.


    Here is an update from defence.lk
    http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20071222_03

    ReplyDelete
  2. Terror Chief Driven To His Bunker
    December 22, 2007: The army continues to have success destroying parts of the LTTE front line. In particular, the LTTE territory along the northwest coast of Sri Lanka has been the scene of successful attacks each week, and sometimes daily. This pressure has apparently made it difficult for the LTTE to get terrorist teams past the army lines and into government held Sri Lanka (which is about 95 percent of the country.) Despite suffering defeats for over a year, the LTTE still refuses to negotiate, and clings to the hope that something will turn around their situation, and get them a partition of the island.




    An air force bomb apparently injured LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, last month. Military electronic warfare units have been able to track senior LTTE officials, and have killed or wounded a few of them because of this. LTTE insiders report that Prabhakaran spends most of his time in a bunker that is 40 feet underground.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Previous article was from strategypage.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Defencenet lanka

    How many troops make a divison?

    ReplyDelete
  6. goldeneagle,
    Division = 9 regiments.
    In SLA, number of troops in a regiment varies

    58th division is not officially raised because it does not have the min requirement of 9 regiments.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Entrance to Uliyankulama has been overrun by the army.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Interesting Article... SL GOVT will have to be very careful of jackals

    John Perkins, from 1971 to 1981 he worked for the international consulting firm of Chas T. Main where he was a self-described “economic hit man.” He is the author of the new book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
    AMY GOODMAN: John Perkins joins us now in our firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now!

    JOHN PERKINS: Thank you, Amy. It’s great to be here.

    AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Okay, explain this term, “economic hit man,” e.h.m., as you call it.

    JOHN PERKINS: Basically what we were trained to do and what our job is to do is to build up the American empire. To bring—to create situations where as many resources as possible flow into this country, to our corporations, and our government, and in fact we’ve been very successful. We’ve built the largest empire in the history of the world. It’s been done over the last 50 years since World War II with very little military might, actually. It’s only in rare instances like Iraq where the military comes in as a last resort. This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people into our way of life, through the economic hit men. I was very much a part of that.

    AMY GOODMAN: How did you become one? Who did you work for?

    JOHN PERKINS: Well, I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation’s largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations. The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950’s, Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew of government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time‘s magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed—well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran. At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn’t have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing. So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government.

    AMY GOODMAN: Okay. Explain the company you worked for.

    JOHN PERKINS: Well, the company I worked for was a company named Chas. T. Main in Boston, Massachusetts. We were about 2,000 employees, and I became its chief economist. I ended up having fifty people working for me. But my real job was deal-making. It was giving loans to other countries, huge loans, much bigger than they could possibly repay. One of the conditions of the loan—let’s say a $1 billion to a country like Indonesia or Ecuador—and this country would then have to give ninety percent of that loan back to a U.S. company, or U.S. companies, to build the infrastructure—a Halliburton or a Bechtel. These were big ones. Those companies would then go in and build an electrical system or ports or highways, and these would basically serve just a few of the very wealthiest families in those countries. The poor people in those countries would be stuck ultimately with this amazing debt that they couldn’t possibly repay. A country today like Ecuador owes over fifty percent of its national budget just to pay down its debt. And it really can’t do it. So, we literally have them over a barrel. So, when we want more oil, we go to Ecuador and say, “Look, you’re not able to repay your debts, therefore give our oil companies your Amazon rain forest, which are filled with oil.” And today we’re going in and destroying Amazonian rain forests, forcing Ecuador to give them to us because they’ve accumulated all this debt. So we make this big loan, most of it comes back to the United States, the country is left with the debt plus lots of interest, and they basically become our servants, our slaves. It’s an empire. There’s no two ways about it. It’s a huge empire. It’s been extremely successful.

    AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. You say because of bribes and other reason you didn’t write this book for a long time. What do you mean? Who tried to bribe you, or who—what are the bribes you accepted?

    JOHN PERKINS: Well, I accepted a half a million dollar bribe in the nineties not to write the book.

    AMY GOODMAN: From?

    JOHN PERKINS: From a major construction engineering company.

    AMY GOODMAN: Which one?

    JOHN PERKINS: Legally speaking, it wasn’t—Stoner-Webster. Legally speaking it wasn’t a bribe, it was—I was being paid as a consultant. This is all very legal. But I essentially did nothing. It was a very understood, as I explained in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, that it was—I was—it was understood when I accepted this money as a consultant to them I wouldn’t have to do much work, but I mustn’t write any books about the subject, which they were aware that I was in the process of writing this book, which at the time I called “Conscience of an Economic Hit Man.” And I have to tell you, Amy, that, you know, it’s an extraordinary story from the standpoint of—It’s almost James Bondish, truly, and I mean-–

    AMY GOODMAN: Well that’s certainly how the book reads.

    JOHN PERKINS: Yeah, and it was, you know? And when the National Security Agency recruited me, they put me through a day of lie detector tests. They found out all my weaknesses and immediately seduced me. They used the strongest drugs in our culture, sex, power and money, to win me over. I come from a very old New England family, Calvinist, steeped in amazingly strong moral values. I think I, you know, I’m a good person overall, and I think my story really shows how this system and these powerful drugs of sex, money and power can seduce people, because I certainly was seduced. And if I hadn’t lived this life as an economic hit man, I think I’d have a hard time believing that anybody does these things. And that’s why I wrote the book, because our country really needs to understand, if people in this nation understood what our foreign policy is really about, what foreign aid is about, how our corporations work, where our tax money goes, I know we will demand change.

    AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to John Perkins. In your book, you talk about how you helped to implement a secret scheme that funneled billions of dollars of Saudi Arabian petrol dollars back into the U.S. economy, and that further cemented the intimate relationship between the House of Saud and successive U.S. administrations. Explain.

    JOHN PERKINS: Yes, it was a fascinating time. I remember well, you’re probably too young to remember, but I remember well in the early seventies how OPEC exercised this power it had, and cut back on oil supplies. We had cars lined up at gas stations. The country was afraid that it was facing another 1929-type of crash—depression; and this was unacceptable. So, they—the Treasury Department hired me and a few other economic hit men. We went to Saudi Arabia. We—

    AMY GOODMAN: You’re actually called economic hit men—e.h.m.’s?

    JOHN PERKINS: Yeah, it was a tongue-in-cheek term that we called ourselves. Officially, I was a chief economist. We called ourselves e.h.m.‘s. It was tongue-in-cheek. It was like, nobody will believe us if we say this, you know? And, so, we went to Saudi Arabia in the early seventies. We knew Saudi Arabia was the key to dropping our dependency, or to controlling the situation. And we worked out this deal whereby the Royal House of Saud agreed to send most of their petro-dollars back to the United States and invest them in U.S. government securities. The Treasury Department would use the interest from these securities to hire U.S. companies to build Saudi Arabia—new cities, new infrastructure—which we’ve done. And the House of Saud would agree to maintain the price of oil within acceptable limits to us, which they’ve done all of these years, and we would agree to keep the House of Saud in power as long as they did this, which we’ve done, which is one of the reasons we went to war with Iraq in the first place. And in Iraq we tried to implement the same policy that was so successful in Saudi Arabia, but Saddam Hussein didn’t buy. When the economic hit men fail in this scenario, the next step is what we call the jackals. Jackals are C.I.A.-sanctioned people that come in and try to foment a coup or revolution. If that doesn’t work, they perform assassinations. or try to. In the case of Iraq, they weren’t able to get through to Saddam Hussein. He had—His bodyguards were too good. He had doubles. They couldn’t get through to him. So the third line of defense, if the economic hit men and the jackals fail, the next line of defense is our young men and women, who are sent in to die and kill, which is what we’ve obviously done in Iraq.

    AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain how Torrijos died?

    JOHN PERKINS: Omar Torrijos, the President of Panama. Omar Torrijos had signed the Canal Treaty with Carter much—and, you know, it passed our congress by only one vote. It was a highly contended issue. And Torrijos then also went ahead and negotiated with the Japanese to build a sea-level canal. The Japanese wanted to finance and construct a sea-level canal in Panama. Torrijos talked to them about this which very much upset Bechtel Corporation, whose president was George Schultz and senior council was Casper Weinberger. When Carter was thrown out (and that’s an interesting story—how that actually happened), when he lost the election, and Reagan came in and Schultz came in as Secretary of State from Bechtel, and Weinberger came from Bechtel to be Secretary of Defense, they were extremely angry at Torrijos—tried to get him to renegotiate the Canal Treaty and not to talk to the Japanese. He adamantly refused. He was a very principled man. He had his problem, but he was a very principled man. He was an amazing man, Torrijos. And so, he died in a fiery airplane crash, which was connected to a tape recorder with explosives in it, which—I was there. I had been working with him. I knew that we economic hit men had failed. I knew the jackals were closing in on him, and the next thing, his plane exploded with a tape recorder with a bomb in it. There’s no question in my mind that it was C.I.A. sanctioned, and most—many Latin American investigators have come to the same conclusion. Of course, we never heard about that in our country.

    AMY GOODMAN: So, where—when did your change your heart happen?

    JOHN PERKINS: I felt guilty throughout the whole time, but I was seduced. The power of these drugs, sex, power, and money, was extremely strong for me. And, of course, I was doing things I was being patted on the back for. I was chief economist. I was doing things that Robert McNamara liked and so on.

    AMY GOODMAN: How closely did you work with the World Bank?

    JOHN PERKINS: Very, very closely with the World Bank. The World Bank provides most of the money that’s used by economic hit men, it and the I.M.F. But when 9/11 struck, I had a change of heart. I knew the story had to be told because what happened at 9/11 is a direct result of what the economic hit men are doing. And the only way that we’re going to feel secure in this country again and that we’re going to feel good about ourselves is if we use these systems we’ve put into place to create positive change around the world. I really believe we can do that. I believe the World Bank and other institutions can be turned around and do what they were originally intended to do, which is help reconstruct devastated parts of the world. Help—genuinely help poor people. There are twenty-four thousand people starving to death every day. We can change that.

    AMY GOODMAN: John Perkins, I want to thank you very much for being with us. John Perkins’ book is called, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

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  9. Thanks DN for the update,

    Defence.lk says usage of tanks ahead of Manthai. Pls let us know more details of the ops.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tangara, andare and others

    Some of you have interesting articles and valid view points which can lead to great dialogue. Have you thought of setting up a blog of your own to publish some of these thoughts?

    The reason why I'm raising this question is because it would help develop your own communication skills and increase the number of voices speaking out to the world abt what's really happening in SL.

    Even now the numbers of those who want to show a derogatory picture outnumber those who don't. So every little bit will help. It is thru development of guys like you into outspoken voices that the SL's truth has gained some ground.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Velu's injuries look like a cooked up story to help him escape leaving the low-level cadre to get slaughtered.

    The LTTE has struggled to keep the Mannar route to India open at any cost for this very reason. Nevertheless with the Indians on the war path that likelihood has diminished largely. There's still some likelihood that Velu could be hosted in a country like Somalia, courtesy the salmon-eaters.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "Some of you have interesting articles and valid view points which can lead to great dialogue. Have you thought of setting up a blog of your own to publish some of these thoughts?"

    Excellent idea. As an encouragement to newcomers, We would be glad to link to any new blogs and give them a boost in readership.
    Make sure your blog is free of racist and offensive content and drop a mail to contact.defencenet@gmail.com with the URL

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  13. it is exciting, motivating and very inspiring to know that the 59th divison may well in fact be the ones to invade into the wanni to liberate the sri lankans from LTTE terrorists. Tamilnet says the SLA attempts have been thawrted...what a joke. May the weather be bad for the LTTE areas and let it shine for the areas in which SLA is currently operating. God bless our soldiers.

    ReplyDelete
  14. i have written many times to UNESCO regarding the comment they had made about VoT. Also, I have written to Amnesty Int. as well as Human Rights Watch with their phoney amendment to stop military aid to sri lanka due to sri lanka having "child soldiers, or indirectly involved with child soldiers" which is very misleading because sri lanka does not tolerate child soldiers nor do we have any or ever had child soldiers in our forces as our Army is strong, capable and have fought foreigners for thousands of years. All these human rights organizations are cover ups by phoney NGO's and western countries trying to bring down a democratically elected governments.

    ReplyDelete
  15. hahahaha "54th = division distroyed in 2001"

    poor souls...

    A division is 9 regiment... a regiment consist of 800 troops...

    do the maths... lol

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  16. Distroyed in 2001, Fixed in 2007..

    Way to go SLA..

    May these brave hearts born amoung us.

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  17. Took 6 years to fix a destroyed division.

    How long would it take to fix all 13 divisions when they get destroyed all together in the coming days, when the LTTE Army start their offencive.

    ReplyDelete
  18. haalo,

    "A division is 9 regiment... a regiment consist of 800 troops...

    do the maths... lol"

    Well it's not simply a case of doing the math. Number of units in an SLA regiment varies.

    "Took 6 years to fix a destroyed division."

    There was no intention to fix it. The word 'destroy' does not mean each and every soldier of 54th division died in battle. LTTE overran the 54th HQ and EPS fell. Around 1500 were KIA (during the entire battle) and Remaining soldiers were assigned to other divisions and the army moved on.

    Three offensive formations have since been raised (57,58 and 59) to replace 54th div.

    ReplyDelete
  19. sl,

    "it is exciting, motivating and very inspiring to know that the 59th divison may well in fact be the ones to invade into the wanni to liberate the sri lankans from LTTE terrorists."

    Well judging by the current situation it will not only be the 59th division. 57th and TF01 (58th) have already made inroads into Wanni through Mannar and Vavuniya.

    It will most likely be a multiple front battle involving all 3 divisions.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Halo:
    "How long would it take to fix all 13 divisions when they get destroyed all together in the coming days, when the LTTE Army start their offencive."

    Since you look at this war win a mathematical and statistical point-of-view, let's simply 'do the math' lol.
    How long did it take the LTTE to eliminate one division? 30 years. How long will it take to destroy the rest? 12*30 = 360 years.
    But since SLA 'fixes' one division every 6 years, in 360 years they would have raised about 360/6 = 60 more divisions.

    All calculations based on your logic so must be pretty accurate.

    ReplyDelete
  21. lightingstruck,

    lol..good answer to the haalo aka LTTE supporter lol. Whats funny is that he put the word "army" after the word LTTE. His logic.... Child Soldiers + Woman = Terrorist Army.

    By the way, hows the weather in Canada haalo?

    ReplyDelete
  22. defensewire, any chance of our army from the jaffna areas trying to capture EP while the 3 fronts from below goes through the invasion?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Andare,

    Thanks for the great Economic Hit Man article. A good eye opener.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Sl, so far there are no plans. Even if there were, it would use similar tacticts which are now employed by the army in mannar. A mass movement like riviresa will not come for long.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Tropicalstorm,


    Thank you for the suggestion...

    I started my own blog called technotunnel...(i don't know where it is heading though...lol)...
    But I am working on few ideas and hope to update the site soon.

    Regarding millitary/politico situation, i am hoping to do something practical in the field of my knowledge..Even If I can build a simple robots, that will make my day..I am working on it.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Prabha is definitely injured.Read this denaial

    Press Trust of India
    Saturday, December 22, 2007 (Colombo)
    The LTTE today stoutly denied that its leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran was injured in a Sri Lankan Air Force attack late last month in Killinocchi.

    ''Our leader (Prabhakaran) is like a sun. Can anybody even think of extinguishing him? Do you think we will ever keep our leader in such a place where he is vulnerable to attacks.

    He is leading us from the front. He is not injured,'' an LTTE spokesman said following a rush of reports quoting government claims that the elusive leader was wounded in raids by the country's air force.

    When asked about the state of health of Prabhakaran, the spokesman merely said, ''He is eating well. I met brother (Prabhakaran) three days ago.''

    On the attacks by Sri Lanka Air Force and the Army, the LTTE representative said there was an attack on November 27 on the Voice of Tigers (VOT) Radio station and one on November 28.

    ''I don't remember the one on November 26. Since there is a confrontation almost every day, we can't say and don't generally keep a count.''

    Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror in a report quoting military intelligence today said the LTTE supremo may have suffered only a minor bruise in his right shoulder during the Sri Lankan Air Force attack last month.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man


    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6916331160804623757&q=economic+hitman&total=58&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2


    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3848716298990404813&q=economic+hitman&total=58&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4


    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7535209511167829586&q=economic+hitman&total=58&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=8

    ReplyDelete
  28. "Confession of a eonomi hit man" is really a great eye opener.

    Now the tool has been changed to "Human Rights". Govt Can be in grate diffiulty on fighting against terrorism, if alligations are not properly Countered.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29GhXsx7-Rs&feature=related

    ReplyDelete
  29. Dulith,

    This is the peace of information I like most

    When asked about the state of health of Prabhakaran, the spokesman merely said, ''He is eating well. I met brother (Prabhakaran) three days ago.''



    Something is funny here

    ReplyDelete
  30. Defencenet,

    If you can shed some light on this.

    Some LTTE diehard in another forum claims that one of the DPU guys was captured on or around 27 November.

    Do you think this is true?

    Please reply where possible.

    If you think the disclosure will aggravate the situation, then forget it.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Tangara

    ''He is eating well. I met brother (Prabhakaran) three days ago.''

    He sure does eat well.Even a blind man can say that.

    Ha,Ha,Ha
    so much so for a leader who said to be fighting for the rights of the depressed.

    ReplyDelete
  32. http://www.island.lk/2007/12/23/news6.html

    According to this article, LTTE fired missiles when SLAF carried out now famous, airstrikes in November..

    The SLAF belives that the second strike on 28 November actually did the damage on Velu...

    S

    ReplyDelete
  33. gUYS... IF YOU check the records of defence.lk and tamilnet, there was no attack from SLAF on 28th nov.
    Same Jayanthinagar was bombed 26th and tamilnet issued some photos immediately.
    With out any record from defene.lk or MSNS, tamilnet issues some photos of a bigger attak done on jayanthinagar 28th nov.
    What is interesting is following,
    1. GOVT never inform about a SLAF attak on 28th Nov
    2. Govt didnt know anything about the damage of 28th nov attack
    3. GOVT has Confirmed the record, only after D.B.S's revelation
    4. GOVT and some news pares refer the incident to the date 26th nov
    5. Tamilnet, DBS and some other news channels refer the incident to 28 th nov.

    I have strong doubt about whole incident..
    Is this done by a 3rd party like india....

    DN .. any comment on this....

    ReplyDelete
  34. andare,
    "I have strong doubt about whole incident..
    Is this done by a 3rd party like india....

    DN .. any comment on this...."

    No the air strikes were definitely carried out by SLAF. There has been more than once instance where SLAF didnt go public with all air raids.

    Quote from our article 10th of December:

    "In the meantime Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) flew three sorties on LTTE military installations in the North during last week. Surprisingly, both government and pro LTTE media were silent about the attacks. As usual, casualty figures from these aerial raids are not available as of now."
    http://defencenet.blogspot.com/2007/12/czech-republic-offers-to-provide-anti.html

    But yes SLAF didnt have confirmation on the injury it was obtained later through ground based sources.

    tangara,
    According to our sources AA fire hit SLAf aircraft on 3 occasions. Although it cannot be confirmed whether it was missiles or AA fire that hit the planes, most believe it was 14.5mm AA cannons that did inflict minor damages.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Sl..dont for a moment think that ALL foreigners are "bad" people..Like every society there are good and bad people.Just think about some tsunami damaged schools that have been reconstructed due to air from british schools for example..(according to my info)Do you know that children in certain british schools donated their pocket money(a very precious item for a kid)to help build some schools in the south and SLanka?.This LTTE disaphora live in these countries in "ghettos" and the general idea that they mix freely with the native citizens of those countries (except the previous USSR-the girls married some of these tamils to get away from the USSR)is utter rubbish.These responses are due to a lot of campaigning by the LTTE not the response of the general population to this so called "plight" of the LTTE.These LTTE tamils feel so insecure that they try to propagate this myth that the peoples of the western nations support this murderous LTTE cause which is utter BSh*t.

    ReplyDelete
  36. there is some info in defense.lk about the army advancing in certain areas.I wonder why this "invincible" LTTE army is retreating...Where is VP's grandmothers cousin sisters invincible brigade?.I thought the tigers faught and died for this pointless cause?...We need to ask simon gardner for an explanation about this "strange" phenomenon..

    ReplyDelete
  37. It cannot be from a second attack on the 28th that injured VP.It has to be from the 26th attack.
    That incident was well discussed in this blog also. Some of our bloggers analysed the tamilnet images very descriptively in this blog.

    Just imagine guys,
    If LTTE knew that SLAF had already bombed that location would they allow VP to be in that same location two days later?
    Never

    I have another question guys. I have not seen a single SLAF attack being reported since the November 27th attack on V.O.T.

    Why is that?

    Is it b'cos they were not reported or due to SLAF putting their missions on hold subsequent to something which we don't know about.(pure speculation this)

    I live close to the KAB and i can tell you there had been very low activity (jets taken off) during last few weeks (At least during the times I was at home) compared to what I have observed over the previous weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  38. srilanka, thank you for your insight, i am thankful for the citizens of those countries who where generous and donated. Whta I do not like is military intelligence in those countries, CIA, politics of those countries who are only out there for one thing, to grab resources. thats why they give loans, human rights campaigns and what not. There are too much propaganda by LTTE, its amazing. Thankfully lot of patriotic people have stepped up to silent this fake LTTE propaganda in places lik youtube, newspaper articles, and even here to get our voices heard.

    ReplyDelete
  39. latest news:
    Troops captured a Tamil guerrilla camp in embattled northern Sri Lanka as two days of heavy fighting along the northern front line left 22 rebels and one soldier dead, the military said Sunday.

    The Tamil Tigers, meanwhile, said they killed 17 soldiers in a fierce clash.

    Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said guerrillas hastily abandoned the camp in Periyapunchankulam village, Vavuniya district, as the soldiers advanced Saturday.

    Nanayakkara said there were no casualties and troops had only progressed about 400 meters (1,300 feet) into rebel-held territory.

    Fighting has escalated in recent weeks along the front lines surrounding the Tamil Tiger rebels' de facto state in the north. The military push is aimed at crushing the separatist movement and ending nearly a quarter-century of war on this Indian Ocean island.

    ReplyDelete
  40. This is the second time army has mounted an attack on Vietnam base. LTTE deserted the base when SF soldiers carried out a hit and run attack on it in November. It was later reclaimed by guerrillas when SF returned to original FDL after completing the mission (objective of the mission was not the capture of base)

    See article (2nd paragraph):
    http://defencenet.blogspot.com/2007/11/ltte-aircraft-spotted-near-anuradhapura.html

    ReplyDelete
  41. defensenet, looks like LNP members pro LTTE workers are using what you write to make weak arguments. Here is an exact quote by

    Mr."Revy":

    ....."the drugged monkeys at the MCNS must be happy that there are still a few gullible people left to buy their swill :)

    Lets see what some more reliable of your people have to say:


    DefenceNet said...
    This is the second time army has mounted an attack on Vietnam base. LTTE deserted the base when SF soldiers carried out a hit and run attack on it in November. It was later reclaimed by guerrillas when SF returned to original FDL after completing the mission (objective of the mission was not the capture of base)

    See article (2nd paragraph):
    http://defencenet.blogspot.com/2007/11/ltte-aircraft-spotted-near-anuradhapura.html

    December 24, 2007 12:39 AM



    The article he links to there:

    Intensity of their attacks was such that at one point an 8 man SF team overran a small sized LTTE camp in the FDL. LTTE cadres deserted their 'Vietnam Base' (situated between Omanthai and Mullikulam) in face of the SF advance.


    small sized LTTE camp now became a major base, works for souther idiots it seems :):)

    Anyway LTTE just left it for you and will be back, now what :)"

    This guy (or guy(s))is online 24/7 on LNP day and night.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Guys

    I'm happy to see that some of you are motivated enough to take on big institutions on your own, like David vs Goliath. And similarly, it is possible to win, only if you have the cottect strategy.

    I would encourage you to contact the SL Embassy in the country of your domicile and inquire how you can help change the perspectives effectively. There's plenty of help available now (unlike before) and you can be put in contact with similar minded others. Let me also assure you that the contact will also be beneficial for you from a personal perspective, allowing you to cultivate influential friends.

    There's also plenty happening right now, so don't miss out on the action. Someday, you'll be able to look back and be happy of what you did..

    Who knows, you might even be talking to me. :))

    ReplyDelete
  43. Well said tropicalstorm.Sl thanks for your input.As you said all these guys are after money.The climate in canada is cold now probably -10deg somedays:):).Sl i have been saying all along that we need to buildup our sinhala populations overseas.This is essential.Lets not waste our time with some LTTE idiot.As far as i am concerned he should be in canada forever and not set foot in SLanka.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Size of the base does not matter. The two attacks are completely different and are incomparable.

    One was a Special operation that was carried out ahead of the then FDL. In short, the previous was one of a number of hit and run attacks of which territorial gains were not an objective.

    This time the FDL itself has been moved forward and the base has been overrun for good by regular infantry units.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Everyday we read about double digit Tiger casualties. while these were exhilarating to read earlier, these very same numbers are starting to make a lot of very patriotic but fair minded people not ony doubt the government's propaganda machine, but also wonder who is really getting killed.

    We certainly want to know who the stiffs are, at the end of the day since there is a need to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the dead were arms bearing, presumably hostile and hence not defenceless civillians. For this reason the defence dept needs to photograph and publish them, or at least possess such evidence for identification and verification.

    This is not only very important to counter any allegations of human rights violations, but also to satisfy the greater law abiding Sri lankans that they did not support a genocidal campaign. The greater majority will not, and their sensitivities must be taken into consideration by the government.

    ReplyDelete
  46. This week's Situ report by the inimicable Athas again raises some intriguing questions;

    He repeats '..for obvious reasons, cannot be discussed..' type sentences in his report usually, which implies that he is privy to information sensitive to national security, which we, the tax payers are not and will not be entitled to.

    Other than being pissed off by the implied superiority game this ass hole plays on a regular basis, I am concerned as to why he is allowed such access which should be classified and be accessible only on a 'need to know' basis.

    If this is not the case, then the military and the govt owes the public an clarification that national security is serious business and treated as such. If it not, then the govt should be held accountable for allowing access to every dick head.

    This is serious and at the least, extremely irritating.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Tropicalstorm,

    I agree on Athas. His news these days seem to be coming from the recycling bin. Further more, it seems that his sources of information are not providing enough substance. For example, he recycled AAB attack in the last week's column with no substantial relevance to the title (also with photos). Regardless of the negative light he tries to shed and doomsday predictions, I honestly don't think that he is national security threat. He just tries to put a pundit face for his column to be the preeminent one among others. However, I see better ones with more objective reporting and most certainly, better style of writing.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Hello Sl,,,,

    ..."all the rich countries including, America, Germany, UK and Terrorist safe house Norway need to realize that they can mess with any other country (somalia, sudan, iraq) but they have messed with the wrong country"...

    What a set of brave words sl,,
    we need more people like you, the moral boost is the most important thing,im not from forces,but my elder bro: is from top unit of SLAF. we all hope everything will be fine by the end of 2008.

    Negotiation is bullshit..
    Imagine if you tried to negotiate with Hitler, still you would have sat on the table or may got killed.

    We sri Lankans are a great nation,we've never given up & we will never giveup,
    The down's syndrome (simply that we cant't do anything) has implemented to our mind by colonialism,

    Tamil diaspora consist of more that 70 million people,(South india and all over the world)
    we tackle it by 19x76% = 14.44million of people nearly 30years.
    Arn't we a graet nation.?

    *Also i'm not telling all tamils are against us,and that we can't live together with them, we must live together with them.
    I also have graet tamil friends.

    *I'm not a supporter of Gov: , JVP or JHU.
    But i support SL Forces.

    Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
  49. TropicalStorm

    Regarding Athas I don't think we should worry at all.

    I have been analysing his reports over a decade now.
    All what he has being doing is getting some info which is freely available on internet (usually from LTTE related sites) and cooking them into a story palatable enough to the sri lankans by mixing little bit of inside information from GOSL, which any experienced journalist can unearth.
    Also due to his projected impartiality and strength to stand against the government he used to get information from frustrated parties who want to exercise their anger against the government but are afraid to do so openly.

    Nowadays many people have access to the very same information leaving Athas behind with nothing special to report.
    Therefore he is compelled to veil himself by telling "Api hoda hoda deval dannawa...but we can't tell those things due to government imposed restrictions".
    While doing that he pulls one or two tricks to keep his popularity going by levelling serious allegations against the government usually on arms procurement.

    I think after our politicians, our media is the most corrupt and self centred entity in Sri Lanka.

    ReplyDelete
  50. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpTY2QCKL2o

    ReplyDelete
  51. Guys,

    The Archbishop want government to delare a ceasefire for 48 hours; I think it is a wrong move and even counter productive. We all know what happened in Madhu area.

    I think the Christians are in a forgival mood even if the government does not agree with it; this is not a time for being sentimental.

    The time taken for actual worshipping is relatively small; the most of the time is needed for festivities, outside religious realm. So, the government must stick its guns while making its position clear to the Christian /Catholic community, in an understadingly diplomatic way, leaving no room for to be exploited as an offence.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Defnet,guys-Howdy?!..its been a while..

    Regarding the SLA's new operations,what are the main tanks & armour that we are using(other than the T-55)?.are those BMP-3's going to use their guns or what?..By the way,will pakistan be willing to sell us their advanced AL-KHALID MBT?..Even saudi is gonna purchase 100's of these tanks,which is said to be superior to the american M1 Abrams & british Challenger as well..

    well,regardin iqbal athas's column this sunday,even i feel that iqbal has lost his "juice"..indeed,why the hell should the general public,who finance the war have no right to know whats going on..My confidence in iqbal's columnhas gone down a notch this week,& he better comeback next week,with hot,detailed info(obviously,not forthcoming operations,but the military hardware that we are going to buy,atleast)..

    Merry X'mas to all who celebrate it & lets hope that we can eliminate the Tigers,kick out all corrupt politicos & DEVELOP the country..

    ReplyDelete
  53. "will pakistan be willing to sell us their advanced AL-KHALID MBT"

    I thought these tanks were too heavy for the Sri Lankan terrain/infrastructure in the N/E?

    ReplyDelete
  54. The Al-Khalid tank weighs about 50 tons. Our T-55 tanks weigh in at about 40 tons.

    If the Al-khalid is too heavy for us, then we have to choose a lighter alternative. I thinks thats why the army has shown interest in the 40 ton Al-Zarrar(heavily modified T-55 tank) tank.

    ReplyDelete
  55. According to the latest info I read, the army wanted to go for the T-72($400,000 each) tanks from Belarus.

    After thinking about it, I think the most effective solution(in my opinion) for us would be to upgrade our existing T-55 tanks into Al-Zarrar tanks(125mm gun). Then, if we want to add more tanks to our fleet, we should buy the low cost T-72 tanks from Belarus. The Al-Zarrar and T-72 both are armed with a 125mm gun. So they both will be able to use the same ammo.

    But my favourite choice for the SLA though would be the T-55 AGM :)

    ReplyDelete
  56. Is the LTTE playing with the asuality figures???. May be LTTE delibarately misguiding SLDF with high asuality figures, to motivate SLDF to move to a big offensive with high number of soldiers on misCalculated weekness of LTTE.

    Is the SLDF, stteping on a deth-trap

    DN .. any Comment....

    ReplyDelete
  57. Andare

    That would be a double edged sword to wield. Already the average tiger suicide candidate is demoralized enough to bend over and shoot himself in the ass. Adding heavily adverse numbers to that would probably make them shoot their neighbors also..
    Of course I'm assuming the average suicide candidate knows how to read and has access to news media, which may be a vast over estimation.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Merry Christmas Fellas & Peace on EaRTH TO MY DENET crew ~

    ReplyDelete
  59. make 2008 the year of victory!

    By Dayan jayatilleka

    click here.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Hemantha,

    I was amazed to read Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke's article.. He has turned around by a 360 Degree..

    What a great article.

    ReplyDelete

  61. Dr. Dayan Jayathilake's article is by far the best..

    It is the Road Map for Peace which is ultimately the victory over the evil LTTE.

    I hope the GOSL will follow it to the letter.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Everything seems to be quiet in the LTTE eastern command let by field marshall abdc...xyz?.Wonder if VP is celebrating XXX-mas with a bevy of 13yr old tiger cadres?-No offense to christians...

    ReplyDelete
  63. http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/army/tanks/alzarrar.html

    thanks,GE.some info on the PAKI al-zarrar tank above..

    ReplyDelete
  64. "I was amazed to read Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke's article.. He has turned around by a 360 Degree.."

    Noltte=peace,
    I would say its 180 Deg. Lets hope he won’t turn another 180 and make total 360. He has changed for good. That’s great (nothing wrong with changing if it happens with deep understanding). He is a one individual who can be placed somewhat close to Kadir if we consider his intellectual capacity and personality. We need to find somebody with his capabilities to run the Foreign Ministry.

    The way he approaches in UN Human Rights council is most intriguing. You know that I always preach about the importance of being in the good book of all mighty western powers (being a small country marred with many problems). But he is trying to take them head on, not all alone because he was able to gather support from all the Latin American and all the African nations. When he makes a speech there he never fails to mention colonial history common to all these countries. And he never fails to have a jab at western powers mentioning their human rights records. So far his approach has given us dividends. Let’s wish him good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Two high-ranking officials from the European Union and the United Nations - one British, the other Irish - have been ordered to leave Afghanistan.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7159961.stm

    ReplyDelete
  66. In an ideal world, what SLDFs need badly is to protect themselves from indirect fire (which seems to causing most of our casualties)!

    The US C-RAM looks awesome (and insanely expensive - nice to dream though right? lol)

    Here's the link:
    http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/cram.htm

    and a vid:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsnhyTiTqk4

    ReplyDelete
  67. Only a fool like Dayan Jayatilleke can be promoted to such heights in country like sri lanka. Nowhere else will they let such morons out of an asylum.

    So I do hope Dayan gets his policy implemented by para modayas brothers from Hambantotas. Please speed your own destruction.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Hemantha,

    I am blushing now.. :-)

    About 360 degree thing...

    Yes, I meant to say 180 Degrees..

    Laughing made my Christmas

    ReplyDelete
  69. GOSL should seriously consider getting not only Dayan Jayatilleke's services in a meaningful way, but also G. L. Peiris' too.

    G.L. Peiris is getting wasted now, despite his enormous capabilities.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Upul, bro, lets wait few months. We will see whose own destruction it is (hate to waste my time arguing on this).
    You had barber the Thamil Chelvam and now Nadesan. Let’s worry about them for the moment. Don’t bother about Dayan, he will take care of himself.

    Noltte,
    Forget it friend. I have done much worse mistakes many a times. I agree with you on GL. We are not using him sufficiently. Instead a politico son (a suicidal maniac) is advising the Foreign Ministry.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Are you guys taking about the same G. L. Peiris who was Chandrika's Deputy Finance Minister? Another recession anyone?

    ReplyDelete
  72. Sea battle erupts south of Delft

    [December 26, 2007]

    SL Navy fast attack boats this morning (December 26) engaged decisive strikes at a cluster of LTTE boats in seas south of Delft, Naval sources say.

    DNet,
    Any new update on this??

    ReplyDelete
  73. any news about the LTTE boats south of delft and also the ship that was caught drifting near arugambay comprisming of indonesian nationals? Im guessing another ship waiting to unload its weapons/cargo to the small LTTE boats.

    ReplyDelete
  74. SRI LANKA NAVY, having observed a suspicious ship in the seas 90 km. off the east coast at ARUGAM BAY, blocked its passage to conduct a check on it Tuesday (25) morning around 5.00 a.m..

    Twelve members of the crew of the ship carrying Indonesian ensign were initially brought to the nearest harbour. They were to be taken to COLOMBO for further investigations.

    Navy is conducting inquiries.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Oh common guys, hemantha, please leave that guy alone.
    1)It's not fair to disturb some one's fantasy.
    2)Even you disprove him no one stops fighting 10,000 miles away.
    3)First you need to find an honest and smart guy to start an usefull argument.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Hey defencenet

    Whats going on in Delf ? Tamil Nut claiming that they have sunk one Dovra .. is this true????

    ReplyDelete
  77. hasalaka,
    Unfortunately its true.
    Read
    http://defencenet.blogspot.com/2007/12/heavy-sea-battle-south-of-delft.html

    ReplyDelete
  78. "Division = 9 regiments."

    It's actually nine battalions. The regiment does not exist as a fighting entity in the SL Army (unlike the US Army), but is actually an administrative grouping or 'capbadge'. For example, the 1st Sri Lanka Light Infantry Regiment or the 6th Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment are really battalions, though they are called regiments. If this is confusing, it can be explained thus:

    In the British and SL armies the field grade unit is the brigade. Battalions form a regiment or 'capbadge', which is an administrative unit, and the individual battalions are attached to combat brigades for operations. In SL most battalions have been given the honour title of 'regiment', which is a bit confusing. To add to it, as the Army has expanded, instead of forming new 'capbadges', the MoD increased the number of battalions/regiments within a 'capbadge', until the latter were actually administering brigade-sized groups of battalions/regiments.

    ReplyDelete
  79. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Al Zarrar Tank is a very advanced war machine developed by Pakistan Army Engineers. Al Zarrar Tank can compete and defeat any modern western tanks. Al Zarrar tank is operational with Pakistan army. Pakistan army is developing second version of Al Zarrar Tank. I Have gathered some operational information and specifications of Al Zarrar Tank Here.
    Al-Zarrar Tank Of Pakistan Army.
    Feel Free To Give Your Feedback.

    ReplyDelete

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