The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) raided LTTE positions located north of Weli Oya today evening. The latest arial raid comes after the rebels shelled an army camp and surrounding villages in Weli-Oya region. LTTE fired artillery at Sinhapura army camp today morning however the surrounding villages too were hit. No military or civilians casualties have been reported. Meanwhile pro LTTE media claimed that the army had started a major offensive in the Weli-Oya region. According to our information there is no such major push towards Wanni apart from routine limited operations.
Meanwhile the army has informed the Bishop of Mannar, Reverend Rayappu Josheph that they have captured the shrine and the surrounding area and has requested the return of statue of "our lady of Madhu". In reply the Bishop has mentioned that the return of the statue was 'uncertain' until both the army and the LTTE agreed to declare an area of two mile radius from the church as a no-war-zone. Interestingly, the bishop allowed the statue to remain at the shrine (then under LTTE control) long after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) first placed their long range artillery guns inside the no war zone which was initially declared back in 2007. The army, after securing the church, has advanced further north from the Madhu shrine and are now in the process of securing Palampiddi region.
Meanwhile the recent setback at the northern front has triggered some changes in the SLA hierarchy. Former commander of the 53rd division has been appointed defence attache to the Sri Lanka Embassy in the US. The position of GOC(general officer commanding) of the 53rd division will most likely be filled by Brigadier Kamal Gunarathne who is the current commander of the 55th division. Brigadier Prasanna De Silva will be appointed as the GOC of the 55th division. Brig. Silva is a capable army officer who was one of the major forces behind the recent successes of SLA's Special Forces including the Vakarai operation.
thanks Dnet for the update
ReplyDeleteSri Lanka arrests 9 over bus bomb
ReplyDeleteLINK
thx dnet, very informative.
ReplyDeleteThis is ewxactly what I was expecting. RAA APPU JOSEPH is beyond doubt a real terrorist.
ReplyDeleteWhat happen to other good catholic in SL???. Why others allow this guy to behave like this??
Like colombo, kandy , Madhu is also in the GOVT control area. Who is he to put condition to GOVT to rob the rights of the catholic.
Is the whole catholic church (not orderinary catholic brothers and sisters) working for the goals of LTTE???
Every one should presure RAA APPU to bring the statue back.
LTTE might have moved the statue according to a preplan. Since SLDF is advancing on Madhu, Vanni, Mannar region, may be LTTE is positioning their BIG GUNS under blessing of Statue in new location.
If anything happen to the statue, RAA APPU and catholic church should bear the whole responsibility.
Wow! DefenceNet finds out so much through his sources in MI.
ReplyDeleteShame about yesterday's incident though. I think Defencenet knew about that one too. May be he was part of the gang that was responsible.
Andare,
ReplyDelete"LTTE might have moved the statue according to a preplan. Since SLDF is advancing on Madhu, Vanni, Mannar region, may be LTTE is positioning their BIG GUNS under blessing of Statue in new location"
very good point there..i think this is EXACTLY what these guys have in mind.The whole idea here is to protect their artillery because without them this is all over.
Peter. You shame all decent tamils. Stop embarassing us and yourself.
ReplyDeleteIf the theory of Pilyandala bombing being an act of retaliation for the high number of LTTE casualties and possible death of terror leaders is true, then it shows that the LTTE are able to explode bombs targeting civilians at will and at any given day. Worrying prospect indeed. The LTTE seem to have almost perfected the art of terrorism, while GOSL seem to have some way to go before perfecting the art of counter terrorism. However, has any legitimate government in the world perfected the art of counter terrorism? I think not. So what chances do we have, particularly when the cancer of corruption is ever present?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the best we can do is to be vigilant and support our brave security forces to finish their work.
OU&N
Pakka,
ReplyDeleteJust think, what is the big deal to place a parcel in a packed bus or a train.
It is impossible to stop but can be reduced to grater extent by random search and interrogations, offering money to informants to catch culprits etc..
As you said, vigilance is the key.
Don’t worry andare most of us Catholics do not condone this action taken by the bishop. Even a few of my relatives who support “Ponsy” and rarely have a good word for the current government consider the good old bishop a traitor to the robes.
ReplyDeleteWhat I cannot understand is why the archbishop hasn’t given this loose gun the spanking that he deserves.
Folks,
ReplyDeleteI am sure that the English boss who wrote the following main article of the defence.lk is under pay from the Tiger ghouls or from the UNP:
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080426_06
It is clear that he knows English perfectly. He smoothly inserts big puns to ridicule our institutions, in this case our Army Commander himself.
Title he gives to this important report is:
Muhamalai attack: LTTE's defeated aim - The end is nigh for terrorists - Army Chief
Or the End is nigh is the name of an English humour pamphlet. He could have written end is near to avoid any ambiguity.
Verifications:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_Is_Nigh
Further, the following slighting to the sacrifices made by our young men is inexcusable:
According to military reports, the 55 division lost 20 soldiers and 53 Division lost 60 soldiers, including 33 who were unable to merry-up with troops.
He used merry-up while he was more or less sure that they faced death.
I think Rayappu Joseph played his role and Velu no longer require his service. So in this senario Velu will arrange a meeting between Rayappu Joseph and his creator with a help of Claymore attack blamed on SLA/DPU. With Rayappu Joseph gone Madu Matha will probably become refugee for ever.. unless almighty has other plans ofcause.
ReplyDeleteAndare,
ReplyDeleteWhat does it take to institute security checks at each and every bus stop.The point is that civilians must understand and actively participate in the
Process.I am sure a member of the security committee on each street will help out for a little money of course
Process.
everyone with luggage who wants to get into the bus is checked.
Bus is checked
People board.
this is very trying and tiresome if you have had a hard day and want to get home soon and takes some time ..but is this not worth it if it saves your life?.
the good news is that Rev soosai?is taking charge of the Madu church.It is so nice to see all the people in the area waiting to use the church for legitimate purposes.As a buddist i wish the Rev bishop success in creating a holy place of worship after so many years.
ReplyDeleteMobile phone penitration is high in SL. Atleast 20% are with Digital Cameras.
ReplyDeleteIf people are advised to use there camera for recording at bus stand, railway station etc.. and delete it nextday, It will be like whole country is under virtual CCTV servilience.
those recordings can help to roundup terrorists in the cities.
defencenet
ReplyDeletesetback muhamalai? U got to b kidding!! This was a debacle pure n simple where our boys got battered mercilessly-cannon fodder in fact and the true casualty figures are closer to 200!! Not 125 as u say also another 30 are mia
renegade of course it was a debacle. But it was not a one sided battle as most of the media depict it to be. The army after all did capture the 1st FDL of tiger. If not for unfortunate (but repeated) errors in command and control, the result would have been different. We've not branded it as a victory. Anyway 200+ will be out of action if you consider the p1/p2 casualties as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080426_06..Muhamalai battle from Defence.lk
ReplyDeleteAndare,
ReplyDeletevery interesting suggetion indeed.
The army alraedy knew that teh tigers were more than likely to target the areas they were vacating, once the soldiers advance there. And that would mean LTTE opening up with long range artillery, providing a good opportunity for surveillance aircraft to pick their location and call in SLAF air strikes.
ReplyDeleteYet the army top brass failed to think two steps ahead and we are looking at the word 'debacle' in the media yet again.
The view of from where the common soldier stands in the Muhammalai front must be like looking up a tree hung with monkeys...just asshole after asshole all the way up to the top of the military heirarchy tree.
Guy,
ReplyDeleteThe head of the vulture pack, who enjoys the presence of blood and everything that goes with it, is hell bent on provoking us.
We know very well why he comes here; yet we played into his hands by commenting on his stupid remarks.
Defencenet, can do one thing to give this guy a gentle slap in the face; repeatedly delete his comments a few times - not always - just to show the w***** whos is calling shots.
Deliberate provocation carries the same weight as the comments made for stirring up racial hatred. So, defencenet has grounds to make this move.
Provocation of this kind is insensitive, especially during a tragic time like this and it is sentimental torture to majority of the bloggers here. So, such comments must be directed to where it belongs - the trash can.
With regard to Rayappu drame, I put my blame squarely on the Archbishop Owald Gomis for inaction. He deliberately ignores the fact that Rayappu is his subordinate not in fear of God the Almighty, just for convenience.
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080426_07-suspected LTTE casualties..what is amazing is that some of these buffoons are in northern hospitals funded by the govt ??
ReplyDeleteI agree with you TS. You dont have to be a military expert to know what happenes if you advance in Muhamalai. Anybody with commn sense would know that. i spoke to sevaral senior officers and even they dont understand what happened. It seems that there was certain pressure from very top. I mean political or military.
ReplyDeleteqrious,
ReplyDeleteBeing a buddhist I know that anybody who supports violence against innocent meets a similar fate. I am sure Rayappu would face the wrath of the god who ever he believes in.
By the way I hope you enjoyed your holiday through five continents! Glad you are back in one piece.
LTTE drops 3 bombs in Welioya: no damages caused
ReplyDeleteDespite heightened ground confrontations between troops and LTTE at the Wanni battle theatre, it was reported that 3 bombs were dropped by LTTE today (April 27) at the military forward defence lines in Weiloya at around 1.45 a.m.
According to military Spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, no damages were caused to own troops in the aerial bombing.
i dont believe this..where the f**k are our aircraft asleep?
Nigh=
ReplyDeleteNear in time
Sounds posh ay.:)
Didn't anyone open fire at these aircraft..??
ReplyDelete"What does it take to institute security checks at each and every bus stop.The point is that civilians must understand and actively participate in the
ReplyDeleteProcess.I am sure a member of the security committee on each street will help out for a little money of course
Process.
everyone with luggage who wants to get into the bus is checked.
Bus is checked
People board.
this is very trying and tiresome if you have had a hard day and want to get home soon and takes some time ..but is this not worth it if it saves your life?."
That is madness there are thousands of bustops, we may need an force of million plus to do that.
firerain,
ReplyDeletehow many CTB employees does it take to place one man on each bus who gets off the bus at each stop where people are getting on as opposed to getting off the bus and check them before they get on..i dont think it will take milions.
Shame on the SLAF again.
ReplyDeleteThis means tigers are STILL able to fly and bomb at will!
"i dont believe this..where the f**k are our aircraft asleep?"
ReplyDelete"Didn't anyone open fire at these aircraft..??"
"Shame on the SLAF again.
This means tigers are STILL able to fly and bomb at will!"
Oh man, not again. For two days this forum was full of such comments. Finally, I thought it was over. Now, here we start again.
sorry hemantha.
ReplyDeletebut this is BAD. They should pull their act together.
["Winning the north is not impossible, but the costs will be very high indeed," says Jehan Perera, director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, a nonpartisan advocacy group. "And it's possible that however many men the Army is prepared to sacrifice, they won't get through. What I'm hearing is that when the soldiers begin to see the heavy death toll, they will become demoralized and that will be a big problem."
ReplyDelete- Jehan Perera]
This 'self appointed' security expert on Sri Lanka seems to have concluded that:
a) Sri Lankan soldiers
are 'sacrificed' by the SLDF, as
they are taken 'forcibly' to
the battlefront.
b) That LTTE terrorism indeed can
be eliminated without a
single casualty.
Thank goodness he showed his slip... "What I'm hearing is that....."
he he he...