DefenceNet - Defence News From Sri Lanka - Anuradhapura Airbase Attack - The Aftermath

12/1/2016
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DefenceNet: Defence News from Sri Lanka
T U E S D AY, O C T O B E R 2 3 , 2 0 0 7
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Anuradhapura Airbase Attack : The Aftermath
This blog is dedicated to discussing

military activities in Sri Lanka.
Original articles related to the
conflict in Sri Lanka will be
published here.
During the last month, the Sri Lanka Air Force attacked a series of LTTE
military installations and targeted several hideouts of senior LTTE
leaders. Some of these attacks were successful and they dealt a
significant blow to LTTE's military machine and to the morale of its
cadres. Therefore it is not wrong to say that SLAF had the upper hand
on battle for the most part of October. However, a team of 21 Black
Tigers and two propeller driven light aircrafts changed the entire
situation in one night.
Although not publicly admitted, SLAF suffered heavy losses in the
attack. More than 15 aircraft of SLAF fleet received damages in the
incident. At least 8 of them are damaged beyond repair. Two Mi24
helicopter gunships (9th Attack Helicopter Squadron), a Mi27
transport helicopter (6th Helicopter Squadron), K8 and PT6 trainer
jets (1st Flying Training Wing), Cessna 150 aircraft (1st Flying Training
Wing), a Beechcraft 200 HISAR, a Bell 212 fitted with guns (7th
Helicopter Squadron) and at least two UAVs (11th UAV Flight) are
among the damaged aircrafts. Greatest loss of all, next to the lives of
SLAF personnel who perished in the attack, is the Beechcraft 200 HISAR
surveillance craft. This was the only active aircraft of this type in SLAF
inventory and had sophisticated spy equipment such as Hughes
synthetic aperture radar and thermal imaging unit installed to it.
Loss of the Beechcraft and the damages done to the UAVs deliver a
significant blow for the SLAF's aerial and naval surveillance
capabilities. 11th UAV Flight, which operated these aircraft was
stationed at Vavuniya AFB until 2007. The squadron was moved to
Anuradhapura AFB from Vavuniya when fighting erupted near Vavuniya
Mannar defense lines.
Investigations into the incident has revealed startling facts. One such
is that the Bell 212 which crashed near Doramadalawa was hit by
friendly fire. Both pilots and the gunner was killed in the incident. Bell
212 (converted into a gunship) was launched from Vavuniya AFB to
hunt down the LTTE light aircraft.
After the attack, it was evident that LTTE cadres who carried out the
attack wore SLA uniforms. It is still unknown whether one attack team
simply 'walked in' to the base under the guise of this SLA uniform.
Black tigers who stormed into the base were armed to the teeth. Some
of them even carried heavier weapons such as LAWs (Light Antitank
Weapon). How the LTTE smuggled in such large quantities of weapons
http://defencenet.blogspot.in/2007/10/anuradhapuraairbaseattackaftermath.html
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and ammunitions to Anuradhapura is another question that is bugging

the military leadership.
DefenceWire
Although there undoubtedly were many lapses and weaknesses in the

base security plan, we should not forget one fact. LTTE cadres who
infiltrated the base never planned to return. An enemy who does not
have a will to live is indeed very hard to stop. SLAF personnel deployed
in the base acted quickly to retaliate and minimize further losses.
However it was a special fighting formation of the SLA's 2nd Special
Forces regiment which completely neutralized black tiger threat. We
will not reveal further information of this team to prevent possible
intelligence leak.
Mawbima
The LTTE has won this battle. But they have not won the war.
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Posted by DefenceNet at 11:51:00 PM
Country before self

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202 comments:
DefenceNet
October 24, 2007 at 12:06 AM
Czech Republic had recently agreed to provide Sri lanka with military
equipment including UAVs. Now would be a good time to have them
because 11th UAV flight is virtually decimated in the attack.
Reply
Jonathan October 24, 2007 at 1:07 AM

thank you DefenceNet and your article is one of the best i have read.
Reply
Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 1:11 AM

Thanks for the article defenceNet.I hope we replace the UAV's
soon.Inability to do so will enable LTTE weapons ships to reach the
north
Reply

A nice article on defencewire also.
Reply

DefenceNet.. (when you have the time)..have we lost all our UAV'S?
Reply
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Sam Perera October 24, 2007 at 1:56 AM

What ever it is, we need to replace the lost equipment to get this
going. Otherwise, there will be many more challenges on the way. At
this point, I am not sure if we can call any attack by LTTE a surprise
attack because we all know that they are planning on attacking many
military installations and economic targets. What we don't know is the
timing and choice of locations. What ever it is, we need to move on
with acquiring new spy crafts. Lets get there first and then we should
find the moles. As I said earlier, any informant should be given the
capital punishment with a speedy trial. Any way, we need to move on
before they come with the next attack in the absence of our spy
crafts. Hope we can get some emergency help from India, Pakistan or
China to get this back on track.
Reply
GoldenEagle October 24, 2007 at 2:01 AM

The security must be beefed up in the Naval installations that contain
our biggest warships.
THIS MUST BE NOW!!!!!!!!
The LTTE will most likely go after the the navy's big warships that
detected and destroyed their weapons carrying ships in the deep seas.
Reply

defencenet
If we are planning to buy UAVs from Czech Republic then they are
most likely the Sojka III UAVs. Thats the only type of UAV that I know
that the Czech Republic produces.
http://www.army.cz/scripts/
detail.php?id=6312
Any idea why we won't go for the Israeli Blue Horizon II UAV?
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thanks DefenceNet
sam if you were the LTTE and your ships were destroyed and troop
concentrations were bombed...what would you do.. you will take out
the instrument that makes it possible..the UAV's and spy planes extend
the eyes and ears of the forces...MI should have warned the
president.Informants should be executed by firing squad and all their
assets sold off to recuperate losses.
Blog Archive
Reply
2013 (2)
2009 (31)
2008 (211)
2007 (159)
December (24)
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But sam executing even traitors is politically very risky in Slanka and
may set a bad precedent.SEE our country is the only country in this
world that has the greatest amount of traitors for Rs 10/
Reply
November (19)
October (13)
War news censorship will not
be imposed
Rising from the ashes

srilankan,
I agree with you about PR issues in capital punishment. However, that
is one of the best ways of deterrence. Just like any other offense,
acts of treason should also be punished.
My major point here is that we need to move on with acquiring
replacements for what we lost as well as improve defences
immediately. We don't have enough time to breath at this point.
Reply
"Human Armor"
Tiger ambush in Hambanthota a
fiction
Anuradhapura Airbase Attack :
The Aftermath
Anuradhapura Airbase under
attack
Irresponsible media coverage
on SLA container acci...
Search operations continue in
Yaala
Clashes continue in Northern
front

Sam i agree with you completely.The problem with replacements is
that now that we are desperate we may have to pay a higher price
and there is also shipping time(unless delivered by aircraft)which
gives the tigers a lot of time to reorganise and regroup.I hope these
airforce guys were aware of the consequences of the loss of UAV'S and
spy planes to the army and navy while they were having a "honda
welawe"
Reply
LTTE raid targets

Thalgasmankada SLA mini
camp
SLN Inshore Patrol Craft sunk
near Jaffna seas
SLN warships destroy LTTE arms
vessel in internati...
SLAF targets LTTE safe house in
bombing raid
September (6)
August (9)
Apart from the beefed up security personnel in our bases, we also

need:
July (11)
1) Security cameras installed through out the bases.
June (13)
May (12)
April (11)
2) Guard dogs to alert the security of suspicious people approaching

the bases. They can smell trouble from a mile away.
March (26)
3) Digital secuity cards for all the people who work and operate in the
bases, so outsiders disguised as security personnel will have trouble
entering the bases.
Defencenet friends
February (15)
Kottu
1 hour ago
4) At least double fencing with the gap between the fences filled with
barbed wire and the inner fence having security cameras mounted on
it.
Reply

GEagle i cant understand what idiot will send expensive equipment to
a lightly defended airbase according to defensewire.
Reply
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Ares October 24, 2007 at 3:31 AM

All the Lankans living in the US:
we better write letters to all US presidential candidates coz Mrs.
Clinton thinks that all terrorist groups are not the same. According to
her although these groups use the same tactics, some are good and
other are bad. In simple term, any organization that is a treat to US
or western interest is bad and others good!
We better swing into action and change this misconception. Its not
like our government is thinks ahead and act on these issues.
Also can slap the UNP MPs for me. According to them the loss is $439
million. Wonder if these people ever went to math class. I don't that
our Air Force is worth that much in the first place.
Reply
Ninja Bandara October 24, 2007 at 3:50 AM

ares is correct. But I don't think we can change Hilary or any US guys.
We should understand them and do our things in a suitable way.
The loss given in large numbers doesn't matter as no normal person
understand how large it is. Unless you are an accountant you don't
understand what is $40 mn or $400 mn.
I would say forget about buying expensive stuff to our air force and
invest more in SLA and SLN. These MIG and Kfir displays are very less
effective compared to out put to input. We should trust our ground
forces and employ tactics they can deliver with out help of air force.
Even tiger air force is nothing but a propaganda tool.
Reply
Ares October 24, 2007 at 4:24 AM

According to reports coming in most of my spy plans and training
aircrafts were in A'pura. Why was that??? I read a article that read the
beachcraft was about $8.5 million with the equipment on board. Why
was such an expensive aircraft not heavy defended. I mean I would
have imagined that such an expensive piece of equipment would have
at least a couple of commandos around it!
Reply

Folks,
One more thing. I don't think that our defence establishment ever
planned to do a massive up front assault in Vanni in the recent times.
More like the east, it is going to be a long series of battles to gradual
elimination of LTTE. If somebody was expecting a spectacular assault
like take over of Jaffna, I think it is a mistake. In that way it is less
burden on the countries economy also. In anycase, we need our spy
crafts up and running soon.
Reply
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tikira October 24, 2007 at 4:39 AM

golden eagle you forgot to mention the important thing to enhance
the security system ,that is to make it safe from traitors. the
contribution to do the whole damage by the 21 black tigers(or24
rather) is 50% the remaining contribution is from the traitor or
traitors within the establshment who sold the information.
Reply
tikira October 24, 2007 at 5:03 AM

how did they know the beach craft was stationed in A'PURA?
roughly 6 weeks ago a villager fishing in one of the tanks in A'pura
found some wepons hidden in the Tank, those was caught in his fishing
net(correct me if i'm wrong)has there been any investigation?
why would ltte send a squad of 21 sucide caders when a group of 12
or 15 could have done this if they were closely monitoring the base
for a long time... well according to my opinion it wasn't planed from a
long time but a sudden tactic or strike.this is my animated
theory,'they were hert from vishummadu attak,some huge target was
stuck,tit for tat, contacted their man in south in uniform for premium
price,set up the offence,exicuted using the highly trained and most
valuble human resource among them,un like in a normal situation
they had to increase the human resource by double as they weren't
sure about the accuracy(thats why tamilnet was so late to report ont
he news)'
Reply
Navindran October 24, 2007 at 5:44 AM

This is really digusting. I thing some people need to tell the top brass
that there must be a difference between a legitimate army and the
LTTE. Things have become so dreadful under this present leadership.
Naked Black Tigers bodies displayed in Apura sacred city
http://lankadissent.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=1997&Itemid=27
[23102007 2.00pm] The naked bodies of the LTTE members who
staged yesterdays attack on the Anuradhapura Air Force Base were
displayed at the sacred city this morning (Oct. 23rd), according to our
correspondent there.
The website of the Media Centre for National Security published
photographs of all 21 Black Tigers 18 men and three women who
were killed in the predawn assault on the airbase, lying in the
runway of the airbase.
This morning, all their bodies, sans their clothing, were being
transported in tractors to the hospital mortuary, when they were
uncovered and shown to the public, the correspondent reported.
Several people who witnessed the incident commented that the
intention was to prevent the mentality of defeat from entering the
public mindset in the aftermath of this major military debacle which
inflicted immeasurable damage to life and property.
Reply
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tikira
No one knows for sure if there sinhala traitors involved in this attack.
Every one is just taking stabs in the dark at the moment.
The LTTE could have used Google earth and other sources to study and
memorize the way the base is laid out.
Ares
You are right when it comes to Hillary, but right now her campaign is
looking unstoppable. According to all the opinion polls conducted she
is leading by a wide margin.
I have a feeling that even if she is elected, she would have a tough
time adopting a softer stance on "good" terrorist groups, because the
republicans will be waiting to jump at the opportunity to brand her as
"soft on security" or "terrorist supporter" if she starts to sympathize
with various groups that are branded as terrorists.
On another note, the LTTE targetted the Beech aircraft and UAVs
because these have been very helpful in increasing the accuracy of
the the SLAF bombing and at gathering intel on the enemy.
Now if you stop and think for a minute, the LTTE will possibly try to
target the navy's large warships that have detected, chased and sunk
so many LTTE cargo ships in the past months. This really hurt them
bad.
So we must beef up security at the naval bases that house these
valuable warships. We can't fall a step behind the LTTE again.
Reply

tikira,
What you say can be a certain possibility. Lets put us in Velu's shoes
and see what we would do.
1) We promised Eelam last year and failed the attempt.
2)We lost the eastern province
3)There is a possibility that SL forces may take Vanni back.
4)International view is not favourable for us because of our past acts.
5)India is vehemently against Eelam.
6) Our financial backbone is strained because of lack of enthusiasm of
our supporters.
7)Lots of our supply ships are destroyed.
8) Lives of our leaders are at high risk
9)Achivement of Eelam is farther than ever.
What are the options we have at this point?
1)We need to survive so that our next generation can win Eelam
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2) We defend our perimeters while preparing for attacks that can

strain the enemy militarily and financially.
3)Ok, bringing in SL war machine to a grinding halt is not possible but
we can hurt them, otherwise we could have won Eelam in August
2006.
4)Lets resort to guerilla attacks to dent the enemy capacity.
5)Lets try to slow down the enemy
Even with all these attempts, we know that we can't win Eelam near
terms but we will survive.
This is the outlook for VP as I see. Tell me what you think of the plans
of LTTE.
Reply
jiffy October 24, 2007 at 6:14 AM

right now the question that needs answering is how are we going to
regain our lost surveillence capacity. where's the money going to come
from, and how soon before its back online. time is the enemy here.
no point crying over spilt milk now.
Reply

This attack shows a simple thing too. When it happened 9/11 US
identified thier laps and they fixed them. And also they work
continuosly on the issues so nothing happened so far. But we have not
learned any thing from Katunayaka attack. This is basically a repaet
of that. (air attack has done no physical damage)
Reply

One more thing, I heard that Velu is a short man compared to SL
standards. If so, the black tigers seems to be even shorter in the
photograph. Id being short a qualification to be a black tiger?
Reply

If MOD reads this blog, please count this as the opinion of one Sri
Lankan out of 20 Million. Please don't go for a kneejerk reaction to
this attack. Take a step back and check for the loose ends first while
we try to replenish the spy crafts. Stay on the original course which
was working well.
Reply

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12/1/2016
Jiffy is absolutely right, all this is spilled milk no use crying over this.
We must now look to the next step.
We do need to get another Beech(or repair the other one we have)
and UAVs as fast as possible. We can't linger long without aerial
surveillance hardware.
Reply

spot on goldeneagle
Reply
Kun October 24, 2007 at 8:57 AM

Defencenet, I blame for top people for not providing best security for
base and planes. this attack is almost like first KAB attack.
Reply

Hey,are they now going to give bodies back to LTTE to redcross ?
http://www.lakbima.lk/articles
/news1.htm
I don't like it.LTTE will make statues for them.Does our guys want it?
Reply

The Hindu reports that the LTTE planes were detected by the new
radars.
"Aircraft were detected: Colombo

B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Amid speculation on the extent of losses in the LTTEs
ground and air raid on the Anuradhapura air base on Monday, the
Government said on Tuesday two separate enquiries were initiated to
probe the sequence of events.
The military conceded that the death toll of the troops mounted to 14
after a critically injured airman succumbed to his injuries. Another 22
Air Force personnel were under medical treatment.
Sources in the Government were at pains to emphasise that the re
vamped air defence system had detected the approaching two Tiger
aircraft well before they were over the air base and a helicopter was
deployed from the neighbouring Vavunia air base to intercept them.
However, the military helicopter crashed a kilometre from the
retreating LTTE aircraft. While the Government attributed the cause
of the crash to a technical snag, a section of the media quoting
military sources said the military aircraft came down due to friendly
fire. Two pilots and two gunmen in the aircraft died in the crash.
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TamilNet quoting the LTTE reported, Two Lieutenant Colonels, six

Majors, 12 Captains and one Lieutenant rank Black Tiger members
have taken part in the operation. A Lieutenant Colonel who led an
attack team was from Trincomalee, two of the members, a Major and
a Captain were from Batticaloa, one from Mullaiththeevu, one from
Mannaar, three from Kilinochchi and eleven members from Jaffna
which has been under the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) control since 1995.
Three Captains were female Black Tigers.
The military on Tuesday claimed that at least 25 cadres of the Tamil
Tigers were killed in continuing battles in the north in the last 24
hours."
http://www.hindu.com/2007/
10/24/stories/2007102462012000.htm
If this is true, why the hell we did not shoot down those tin cans?
Reply
Ranil October 24, 2007 at 9:58 AM

DefenceNet
"The LTTE has won this battle. But they have not won the war."
True...but they indeed have delivered a huge blow to our recon and
precision bombing activities :(
Hope SLDF can acquire another recon aircraft ASAP and some UAV's too
since we have lost the best UAV's we had :(
It's sad that an entire base couldn't fend off a raiding party of a few
dozen tigers and had to call in support from RSF and that also came
too little too late.
I wonder what more it will take our military leaders to figure out and
fix their obvious weaknesses..
I though after Katu attack air bases were in much higher alert
levels... Obviously we haven't learned from our mistakes which is
really sad...
I heard that the black tigers have capture our AA gun positions and
used those guns n our aircraft...is their any truth to this or just flying
rumours?
Reply
Puffy October 24, 2007 at 10:07 AM

Guys, sorry if this does not sound very exiting right now! I entered the
following comment in the previous thread but we moved to this new
thread before I could get any replies to it... so thought of bringing it
up again...
It's true that the damage runs in to millions of US$ and that the SLAF
needs to purchase some of the lost air crafts ASAP, specially the
Beechcraft! But already faced with a strained defence budget, it will
10/65
12/1/2016
be difficult for them to come up with the required cash...

So how about setting up an account (similar to the President's Fund),
dedicated for defence expenses, for the public to contribute? I
personally know few people who are willing to support this and I'm
sure, all patriots will contribute towards this handsomely!
However, all funds of this account should be used to purchase military
hardware and not for the benefit of any politicians... may be we can
have the commanders of the 3 armed forces as the owners/signatories
of the account, there by having a strict control over it!
This will give all patriotic sri lankans a chance to actively participate
in Sri Lanka's fight against the LTTE!
So what do you guys think?
Reply
Rif October 24, 2007 at 10:19 AM

Guys this is a very touching article on the daily mirror. Note, its says
the ill fated Bell 212 was "accompanied by another helicopter".
DefenceNet and others can u confirm this ?? If so what was the other
chopper? were the witness to this gruesome incident ? Did the other
chopper hover around after the Bell 212 was brought down or did it
proceed to AAFB or after the LTTE planes?
The last words of the pilot
===========================
Take this chain and give it to my wife, because I cant be sure if I
will return alive, were the last words of the Air Force pilot who flew
the ill fated Bell 212 helicopter which crashed while pursuing the
LTTE aircraft involved in the attack on the Anuradhapura airbase on
Monday.
The pilot, Squadron Leader Amila Mohotty, had handed the chain to a
friend before taking off to give chase to the two LTTE light aircraft,
accompanied by another helicopter, only to face fire from anti
aircraft guns on the ground which hit his helicopter and brought it
down in Mihintale, some 12km from the airbase, killing all four Air
Force personnel on board, according to his grieving colleagues.
The Bell 212 helicopter was shot down by an anti aircraft gun within
the perimeter of the airbase and investigators will have to find out
whether the gun was fired by a member of the security forces who had
mistaken the helicopter for an LTTE aircraft, or by LTTE cadres who
had infiltrated the base.
Air Force colleagues of the pilot of the ill fated helicopter, who did
not wish to be identified, also claim that the authorities in Colombo
had asked the Anuradhapura airbase to fire at any aircraft in the sky
as none of the government owned planes were in the Anuradhapura
air space at the time.
The miscommunication between Colombo and Anuradhapura could
have led to the security forces shooting down the Bell 212 in the dark,
sources said.(031)
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12/1/2016
www.dailymirror.lk
Reply

This event has taught all a lesson.
Now we can't continue to wallow in the misery of destroyed military
hardware. We need to rebuild our aerial surveillance ASAP thats the
next logical step. Put other military hardware purchases on hold and
take care of this first.
Most of all, we must not give up on the current startegy that the
armed forces has adopted since the past 2 years. No time to lose
confidence and spend time wandering the wilderness.
Just because of this attack, we can't put ourselves on the backfoot.
The pressure exerted on the LTTE must continue on land, sea and air.
Especially at sea.
Reply
David Blacker October 24, 2007 at 10:48 AM

"I would say forget about buying expensive stuff to our air force and
effective compared to out put to input."
This is incorrect. One of the main edges the security forces have over
the LTTE is the SLAF air support. On the ground, take away the MBRLs,
and the Army and LTTE are pretty evenly matched. What the MoD
should be doing is getting hold of more gunships and assault transports
we need a fullly integrated air mobile/assault division on the lines
of the US 1st Cav in Vietnam or their current 101st Air Assault. Better
close air support is what's needed so that aircraft can be used
tactically and not just for strategic raids and interdiction (as they are
now). In the end, this is more important than even frontline AA
defences, since the LTTE air capability amounts to the damage caused
by a couple of mortar shells.
Reply
Ranil October 24, 2007 at 10:55 AM

david...
yep...it'a about time our sldf bigwigs adopt these kinda strategies that
have been proven effective over the years
Reply
Aslam October 24, 2007 at 10:56 AM

Guys, this letter shows your education about ongoing war and the
facilities we are having.
Here are the corrections.
PT6 is not a Jet Trainer. These were used in 80s and early 90s to fight
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12/1/2016
against LTTE and now attached to the pilot training unit over there in
Anuradhapura Air Force base. None of the Bell 212 is converted to the
flying gun ships but having 2 x 7.62mm machine guns mounted in
doorway. I doubt what the purpose of air lifting these during an air
attack. None of the Bell 212s having the capabilities of firing air
borne items.
This is not a sudden attack but with a proper plan. They never
planned this because of recent losses but planned this at least three
years prior to the incident.
If any of you been to the SLAF base at Anuradhapura, you know the
surroundings.
Its surrounded by couple of tanks including the Nuwarawewa tank.
Others are tiny, marshy areas with reasonable forest cover. There are
two to three military camps nearby (including the one at galkulama)
but anyone can approach the SLAF base through tiny jungle areas.
No need to ask question such as how they entered there and what has
happened. There is a duty for all of you; especially to the dammed
politicians. Keep the war out of politics. Mr.President your brother
can not lead this war anymore. We need a better leadership. As far as
I know Gotabhaya did nothing in the operation Wadamarachchi. What
MR doing at the moment is using war to keep his struggling government
alive. I am not blaming him for his dirty politics but we need a sheer
leader like General JP to lead the army including top brass.
A person like Colonel Prasanna Silva knows how to tackle the enemy in
the battle field. They know the correct tactics to win the war and the
hearts of tamil people. To get them back to the war fronts we need
clever leaders to run the war machine. You can win the toughest
enemy in the world with little bit of brain. If it is not with you will
lose it with the ultra modern equipments.
Reply
perein October 24, 2007 at 11:08 AM

Defencenet,
We undestand the busy time you have. Thank you for taking more than
5 minute period to update us all.
Reply
Jack Point October 24, 2007 at 11:19 AM

Puffy,
"So how about setting up an account (similar to the President's Fund),
dedicated for defence expenses, for the public to contribute? "
better to tell people to pay their taxes.
There is such a thing as the National Defence Fund, set up by Lalith
Athulathmudali in the 1980's. They have collected maybe oen or two
thousand million rupees. Last years defence expenditure was
budgeted at 139,000m. To put this in context the entire collection
from VAT (the biggest single contributor to govt revenue) is
Rs.120,000m.
Reply
Ruslan October 24, 2007 at 11:20 AM

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David,
I agree with you. why cant we set up something similar to US Army
Cavalry Regiment in here. by doing so we can use these MI24 gunships
effectively. i think we are not getting the use they are meant for.
what do you guys think?
Reply
Ruslan October 24, 2007 at 11:22 AM

Basically i mean there should be separate Regiment in SLA to handle
Close Air support and Air assaults...
Reply
Jack Point October 24, 2007 at 11:24 AM

Aslam, what I have heard of Gota from those who served at the same
time as Gota is that he is a very tough customer, a real fighter.
The Economist described him as a "fireeating colonel".
Reply
Aslam October 24, 2007 at 11:26 AM

I am refusing the comment that SLA shot down the Bell 212 in the dark
because Bell 212s noise travels more than 4 to 5 kilometers and SLA
people are pretty much familiar with the noise.
"I would say forget about buying expensive stuff to our air force and
effective compared to out put to input."
This should be corrected as this. Forget about adding MIGs. Because
Kfirs are considerably good in both AirtoAir and AirtoGround
assaults. We have to invest on intelligence, sophisticated items such
as GPS guided rockets, AirtoAir weapons and GroundtoAir weapons,
night vision capabilities of the gun ships and the transport/fighter
planes.
I do not agree with using jet fighters or bombers for close air
supports. Because none of the fighters can bombed accurately to the
ground targets. In recent past our bombers bombed SLA camps even.
For such a help what we need is flying gun ships. I think we do have
dozens of gun ships at our bases. We do not have Mi 27 transporter,
but just a Mi 17 transporter.
Reply
shay October 24, 2007 at 12:00 PM

"Forget about adding MIGs. Because Kfirs are considerably good in
both AirtoAir and AirtoGround assaults".
The Kfir's we have don't have an airtoair capability as demonstrated
by the fact none of them were even scrambled to intercept/chase the
LTTE planes. The two Kfir C7's can be upgraded to perform an airto
air role but this has obviously not happened and given the time it
takes to get off the ground, it wont make a good interceptor. Trying to
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chase a Zlin with a lightly armed Bell 212 is pointless.

The Kfir is also considerably less capable than even the existing
Mig27's in the airtoground role, much less payload and need to have
additional targeting pods to carry PGB's as compared to the Mig27.
"sophisticated items such as GPS guided rockets, AirtoAir weapons "
At the moment I believe only the US made MLRS uses GPS guided
rockets. I don't think there is a cheap Russian/Chinese alternative, so
we still have to rely on air strikes.
The problem is that you cant just add airtoair weapons. Most AAM's
need multi mode radars/IRST which can cue the missile. There is no
point adding all these systems to the two C7's, the cost wont be much
less than buying a more suitable platform (can be second hand) which
has all these features and more.
"I do not agree with using jet fighters or bombers for close air
supports. Because none of the fighters can bombed accurately to the
ground targets".
Not necessarily true. Upgrading or more modern fighters can perform
this role when combined with better communication with the ground.
For example the Chinese now make cheap ground based laser
designators which can be used by troops when calling for CAS. The
problem with relying solely on heli gunships for CAS is their
vulnerability to enemy AA/MANPAD's.
Reply
Ranil October 24, 2007 at 12:26 PM

Shay...full agreed mate.
dint we loose even a couple of Puccaras during CAS...
A gunship though more accurate and agile in hugging the ground
contours etc is an easy target for AA fire...
there were a few online videos where iraqi's have brought down US
blackhawks with rpg rounds... Even the US apache's are vulnerable to
these types of ground fire...
Reply
MathaMathica October 24, 2007 at 1:54 PM

To improve the alertness of our men, it may be helpful to organise
simulated attacks on our installations. It is certain that DPU simulate
things before going in but never heard that KAB was ever sealed for a
simulated attack.
TIGER HUNTING MUST BE MADE A NATIONAL SPORT.
Even if everybody knows that it is a simulation, close observation of
event chains can also lead to the detection of very difficult to find
loop holes. Just have to see how useful a simulation is in difficult
court cases .
Shall we continue the discussion ?
PAMADO MACHCHUNO PADAM
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Reply
Times Eye October 24, 2007 at 2:09 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.
Reply
Patriot October 24, 2007 at 2:16 PM

DEFENCE,
anything go to do with the story
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071023/wl_sthasia_afp/srilankaunr
estattackprobe;_ylt=A0WTUfhkDB5HmqMATQZvaA8F
Reply
Times Eye October 24, 2007 at 2:18 PM

20 something years of war, our army shit heads can't even protect our
military assets, i heard they were watching sirasa superstar, Air force
chief has enough reasons to resign now, what an idiot,
Reply
Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 3:05 PM

times eye..keep cool bro..this is not only about the activites of men
at the base.It is also about procedures,layout of base and the
response time of units.In fairness the soldiers faught well.Remember
they could have all hidden under beds or sold their weapons for petty
cash to the enemy or for the promise of a job at a takeout in canada
but they didnt.It shows some degree of responsibility instead of the
opinion "meka anduweneething vinasavonoth anduwa aye gani"which
is a big +++++.now according to the defencewire article(no disrespect
to defencenet)the troops were lacking in readiness which is not all
their fault.I hope the new commander puts these guys through their
paces.In my opinion in a base housing aircraft worth millions of $
(which we cant afford)there has to be multiple check points,security
checks and regular patrols round the base before you reach the
planes.I think there should be troops stationed inside hangers as
well.I am not sure who should be blamed if anyone as the govt has
given the forces a free hand in their operations.My heart goes out to
the families of the dead soldiers.Their lives have been turned upside
down due to complacency.
Reply
David Blacker October 24, 2007 at 3:23 PM

Ruslan, the main prob, is that each of the forces is very jealous about
what they consider their 'territory'. So the SLAF is adament that only
they can have aircraft. That is why the SLN has no shipboard
choppers. The SLAF even opposed the awarding of jump wings to
airborne soldiers. This mentality must be broken if we're to conduct
true airsealand ops. The old Airmobile Brigade, RSF etc were always
crippled because of these probs. Even if the SLAF insists on crewing
the choppers, an air assault division can be a joint SLAF/Army unit
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with dedicated aircraft, Army infantry battalions, special forces and

arty. Commanded by aan Army general with joint Army/SLAF ops,
logistics, etc. It's been done in the UK.
"I am refusing the comment that SLA shot down the Bell 212 in the
dark because Bell 212s noise travels more than 4 to 5 kilometers and
SLA people are pretty much familiar with the noise. "
Aslam, ever been in a firefight at night, in bad weather. It's loud and
confusing. Do you know at what range the 212 was downed? No. It's
quite possible that the rotor sounds were drowned out by the groun
battle. The AA gun might have already been in action, and if you're
firing a .50 you wouldn't hear anything around you. Believe me.
"20 something years of war, our army shit heads can't even protect our
military assets, i heard they were watching sirasa superstar, Air force
chief has enough reasons to resign now, what an idiot,"
I think the biggest idiots are the people who seem to think that war's
a onesided scripted movie. Shit happens. Get over it.
Reply
tangara October 24, 2007 at 3:28 PM

Thank you so much guys for your enthusiasm. I am humble by words
and your request to participate in the blog further.Hope we can keep
the momentum going until we see the end of LTTE.
Goldeneagle,ltte=nopeace, sam, millmi and all the other guys here, i
just can't live without this blog...
Squadron Leader Amila Mohotty's story is really moving ....
We have a duty ...
It is now or never...
Only thing is time, which is not on my side...
However I am really determined to participate in the Sri Lankas war
against LTTE..
I can contribute in many ways....
Reply

The best thing the MoD could do is do away with the three separate
armed forces (Army, Navy and SLAF) and just have one SLDF. Then the
air arm is just an arm, like the arillery or armoured corps, not a
separate force. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen are loyal to their parent
units, not the force, so that wont make a difference. They'll still
belong to the Gajaba Regiment, or the SLN Suraya or whatever. The
ranks would have to be made common though, like in Israel. No wing
commanders and rear admirals. Army ranks.
Reply
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Ruslan October 24, 2007 at 3:45 PM

"the main prob, is that each of the forces is very jealous about what
they consider their 'territory'."
David,
Yeah true, being in jealousy is proven with results in front of our own
eyes now. Only "Airforce should fly planes and Navy should operate
Boats" what a lame theory is this..? I mean, take a look at other
nations Armed forces, there's plenty examples. its time to Change
things after learning these bitter lessons.
Reply

Daily News: IGP Victor Perera visited the area to review the
investigation process with regard to the infiltration of the LTTE to
launch an attack on the air base.
Why there are no organisation for the execution of complex specialist
tasks linked to:
1. State Security
2. Military Security
3. Economic Security
4. Food Security
MR must setup such agencies and make them invisible, run by the
invisibles... means no traces of their action. Silent dedicated and
efficient.
Such agencies in EU zone are accountable only to a secured defence
committee of the parliament.
Reply
garrett October 24, 2007 at 5:20 PM

Reply

Hi guys ,
well we had a bad day.
I do have to agree with tikira . this is a rush job, done most
specifically to take out the UAV and Beech Air Craft. Sam perera is
right on the money . The tactic is to prolong the war and take out the
most lethal assets in the SLA. Hell even if the whole air force was
destroyed the LTTE can't win.
The beech was their primary target while UAV secondary . FLIR
fighting capability was advocated by the US to us for years. FLIR is the
end of LTTE .
I think the beech and the UAV were parked temporarily for a mission .
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Somebody sold the information or the beans were spilled. LTTE had a
window opportunity and went for it.
Reply
NOLTTE=Peace October 24, 2007 at 5:42 PM

I suspect that one or two LTTE men or women still escaped either
wearing SLAF uniforms or Police Uniforms.
There is a huge concern that for each of the attacks, LTTE might has
brought in 'facilitators' wearing Police/Army/Navy/STF uniforms.
It is said that an LTTE man in Police uniform facilitated the three
wheeler that came to assassinate Gota too. Finding an SLAF uniform
with a suicide kit in Katunayake is another wakening call.
Perhaps, we should have Area Security Squads who plans and execute
security of each area of the country, who can easily be identified and
has the authority to check identity of any Police/Army, SLAF/Navy etc
officers who coordinate entire security of an area. They should act as
mini JOCs covering each area and it should rollup to a Central
Command Centre.
Any thoughts?
Reply

DB,
I second your joint attack division proposal. It is something that we
are missing.
Reply

http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=8095
Black tiger base bombed....
Reply

Recently LTTE left some millitary equipment close to Regal Cinema in
Colombo...
I thought that was a total distraction..I remember I warned that it
was a distraction and something is planned elsewhere...
Guys, SLDF missed all the tell tale signs of a super massive attack..I
have been telling this for the last couple of months...I knew this was
comming ...There were times that no one updated the blog and I was
really concerned..
It was obvious , we loose the guard on everything...
The GOSL must use optimum usage of SLA's fighting formations...We
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need to minimise the movement of key GOSL figures so we can

allocate these brave men to defend all our assests...
Reply
Jack October 24, 2007 at 6:06 PM

" Finding an SLAF uniform with a suicide kit in Katunayake is another
wakening call.
"
Or perhpas that was a distraction preparing for this attack, recall how
it was found just lying there in a bag on the steps of some building?
Reply

"I thought that was a total distraction..I remember I warned that it
was a distraction and something is planned elsewhere..."
Haha sorry Tangara I didn't read this first I promise, but glad to know
we had the same idea :)
Reply

Now we have to rely on the greatest intelligence asset we have..the
eyes and ears of our people..ALL the peace loving peoples of SLanka.
Reply

We can provide even our one month salary without any hesitation but
I wander why,
I feel air force commander and top officials have not proven their
capabilities in several cases..
It obvious that lack of security done that, what ever others say its
the officials duty to protect the camp, soldiers + equipment, I dont
mind after a some battle they have destroyed the stuff ,
but here a bullshit..
it's completely a shame for the who are fighting.. who had done lot
and scarified
i totally agreed with the Time Eyes...
it's away from the basics....
shall we form a good list who responsible for this..
please don't mention name.. but list Ranks..!!
Reply

Patriot..i dont mean to impose my ideas on you..but how long does it
take (in mins) to destroy 23 planes by 8 people who have sneaked
through lax security?
Reply
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Does anyone know if we have diplomatic relations with libya?
Reply
Rifard October 24, 2007 at 6:35 PM

defencenet,can u confirm whether we have any operational UAV'S
because defencewire reported that we have lost our entire UAV fleet.
Reply

Yes,srilankan we do have diplomatic & very friendly relations with
LIbya..
Reply

Ya.. basically it's lack of security
Unless Commander has not taken them
Reply
hiru October 24, 2007 at 6:45 PM

rifard,
I am sure we have few UAV s remaining
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20071024_03
Reply

Thanks rifard.
Reply
Charlie October 24, 2007 at 7:05 PM

I think it was a good move with regards to the naked LTTE bodies.
Others will no doubt disagree, but it has certainly taken the gloss off
the gloating of the LTTE and its supporters. This needs to be done
every time the bodies of suicide cadres are found. This has bothered
the LTTE so much that they have released a statement over it!
Read the following article very well:
Rebels outraged at public display of naked suicide bombers
http://tinyurl.com/274vef
Apparently the LTTE was happily waiting for the bodies to be returned
so that they could be given a heros burial.
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Another important point is when the LTTE statement says:

"Please note that the family members of the dead LTTE fighters are
deeply shocked at the parade of the bodies of their loved ones."
Clearly the parents new their sons and daughters were going this
mission and did nothing to stop them or alert the authorities. And
they expect the bodies back?
From now on, the bodies of dead LTTE suicide cadres (not normal
ones) should be humiliated in this manner so that future suicide
cadres will know how they will be treated and how their family will
react. This may sound mean, but so are cowardly suicide attacks. The
bodies of suicide bombers must also never be handed back to the
LTTE. Of course, this should NOT be sanctioned officially, but every
time the bodies of suicide cadres are found they should be humiliated
and not handed over to the LTTE. The LTTE glorifies suicide bombers
and places them on a pedestal. We should not help out with their
ideology, rather we should play our own psyops games.
The biggest joke is when the LTTE says "We also want to point out that
throughout the history of our organisation we have always respected
and treated honourably the members of Sri Lankan military POW
(prisoners of war) and dead combatants."
What a laugh.
Reply
DefenceNet
October 24, 2007 at 8:21 PM
We have not lost the entire UAV fleet. But most of them are damaged.
Tamilnet itsels admits this fact:
"Meanwhile, a SLAF reconnaissance aircraft was observed circling over
K'linochchi. Three Kfir fighter jets of the SLAF were also flown over
Vanni around 5:00 a.m."
Link:
http://anonymouse.org/cgibin/anon
www.cgi/http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=23569
(For sri lankan readers)
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=23569
Note: TamilNet is not a source of our information. We have confirmed
the fact indenpendantly.
Although not all UAVs were lost, current status of 11th UAV flight is
nothing compared to what it was 3 days ago. It really was a killing
blow.
Reply

"I think it was a good move with regards to the naked LTTE bodies.
Others will no doubt disagree, but it has certainly taken the gloss off
the gloating of the LTTE and its supporters. This needs to be done
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every time the bodies of suicide cadres are found. This has bothered
the LTTE so much that they have released a statement over it!"
Charlie I think you are wrong on this, it makes a professional army
look like illtrained thugs, and whoever came up with this idea is also
insulting the forces on the world stage.
No where in the world is this done, you don't see US troops doing this
to even AQ terrorists, and the few that did similar things were (Abu
Gharib albeit to the living) were prosecuted.
I don't think it is a good idea at all, it just tarnishes the country's
name.
As for the LTTE if you think this bothers them you are mistaken; they
are making hay while the sun is shining, whoever made this decision
has given them a propaganda tool on top of the military hardware
losses now!
Reply
DefenceNet
By the way exposure of naked tamil tiger bodies should never have
happened.
No prolonged propaganda advantage can be gained through such acts
even among the local population.
But this will seriously affect the positive image of armed forces and
Sri Lanka. LTTE, being a terrorist organization, is well known to
engage in such acts. Tigers display dead bodies of SLA soldiers killed
during LRS missions along with their military hardware almost every
time when such an incident occurs.
But LTTE are terrorists. INn contrast, Armed forces of Sri Lanka is a
professional military machine. Such acts should be avoided at all
costs.
Reply

"From now on, the bodies of dead LTTE suicide cadres (not normal
react."
By the way, I don't think a guy who is about to blow himself up into
lots of little bits is too concerned about what someone is going to do
with their body.
Reply
DefenceNet
jack your and our comment was posted at the same time. You pretty
much said everything we had to say on that matter :)
Reply
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Sorry I disagree. The LTTE hold suicide bombers in high regard. We
need to show them that we will not treat them as such, nor will we
return the dead bodies of suicide cadres to them. On LTTE websites,
the tone of glee has turned into outrage. And that's a good thing. The
LTTE may have carried out a stunning attack, but at the cost of the
humiliation of its cadres. They were expecting to have the bodies
happily returned so they could carry out a huge propaganda exercise
in the Vanni for the "matyrs" and likely gain new cadres. That is not
going to happen.
Let's take a leaf out of the Israeli book. They even demolish the
houses of the families of suicide bombers. They believe that this stops
people from becoming suicide bombers because they are afraid of the
repercussions on their family. We don't have to go that far, but
potential LTTE suicide cadres need to know that they will be
humiliated if they choose to attack.
Being a black tiger is a prestige position. We need to make them
realise that its not.
Reply
DefenceNet
"future suicide cadres will know how they will be treated and how
their family will react."
We're almost certain that it wont work like that. The LTTE will make
those photos a good recruitment tool and might actually get some
more cadres into its war machine.
Reply

On the contrary, I think the photos are very demoralising to the LTTE
and the LTTE supporters, defencenet.
Reply
DefenceNet
"We need to show them that we will not treat them as such, nor will
we return the dead bodies of suicide cadres to them"
If they really cared about what we thought, they will not be suicide
cadres in the first place.
These units are brainwashed and are trained in isolation inside dense
jungles of Mullaithiv. They have one mission in their life and that is to
die for their organization (even though the cause they die for is
impractical). Whatever we think of them, they are heroes among the
LTTE. That is what matters to them.
Reply

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"That is not going to happen."

The bodies are being returned via the ICRC, and as defencenet said
this is only going to help their recruitment due to the very outrage
you mentioned.
Reply

Yes defencenet, they do not care about what we think, but they do
care about what their people/LTTE think. It is a prestige position.
They also know that they will be honoured in a matyr's grave and their
family will have special benefits over others. The gloss over that
needs to be eliminated. If you carry out a suicide attack, you will be
humiliated and your body will not be returned to the LTTE.
Reply

Well jack, this is the first time I'm hearing about they being returned.
What I read online was that they were buried.
Reply

I guess you didn't read the article to which I provided a link jack:
"Police said forensic tests were carried out on the bodies and DNA
samples taken to establish their identities.
We buried them in individual burial plots, said a police officer in
Anuradhapura, a major tourist spot.
http://tinyurl.com/274vef
Or is this not true?
In anycase, I argue that the bodies of suicide bombers should not be
returned to the LTTE.
Reply

Ok guess they changed the plan now, earlier they were going to be
handed over.
Maybe this is to cover up the apparent capture of 3 survivors?
Reply
DefenceNet
"If you carry out a suicide attack, you will be humiliated and your
body will not be returned to the LTTE."
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Charlie,
Not returning the bodies is one thing and displaying them naked to
general public is another.
Besides, whether or not the bodies are returned, Black tigers are
categorized as heroes even before their mission. Their families
(Mahaveer families) gain protection and supplies from LTTE. So we do
not think this really matters to them.
What we meant was that as a responsible government and a
professional army, we should not have played with dead bodies.
Reply

I'm not saying the humiliation and not returning the dead bodies be
officially sanctioned. But what happened with these bodies was a
good thing. It has kindled dismay and outrage among the very people
who were jumping up and down and clapping about the LTTE attack.
The LTTE matyrs graves are very important, we do not need to support
that notion by sending the bodies of suicide bombers back to them.
IMO suicide attackers are cowards.
Reply

I think you all have got it wrong about Tiger bodies.
1. Since the tigers were heavily armed with suicide jackets to military
hardware sewn to their clothes, they had to be cut off to diffuse
bombs.
2. Then they were loaded to a Tractor to take to the hospital
mortuary, photographs were taken
3. There was no parading involved whatsoever as shown in the twisted
truth in Tamil Net
4. The bodies were covered in black polythene just befor the tractor
took off
The TamilNet article is false!
Reply

BTW, I am glad that the SLAF did not put all their eggs in one basket
and save the other 12 UAVs intact in other bases.
Reply
Ares October 24, 2007 at 10:16 PM

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Reply
Ares October 24, 2007 at 10:19 PM

Sri Lanka Defense Force (SLDF)! This is a good idea. The Army, Navy
and Air Force should be dismantled and established the SLDF, which is
commanded by the National Defense Council (NDC). The NDC should
be headed by the President. Other members include the operation
commander of SLDF (rank general) and heads of all other wings. Eg.:
Naval wing, Air wing, Special forces wing, intelligence wing etc.
Or a similar structure.
Reply

"BTW, I am glad that the SLAF did not put all their eggs in one basket
and save the other 12 UAVs intact in other bases."
NolTTE are there 12 more? The way it was described I thought all or
most were lost?
Reply

Surprised to see lots of discussion about our hardware and what we
are doing with our hardware. We are thus helping to cultivate the
general knowledge of the enemy/enemy supporter . What we must do
is to discuss the enemy/enemy hardware/tactics etc so that general
awareness of the tiger is improved and the level of counter measures
are ameliorated.
Examples.
1. Is there any detailed analysis of the 1 suicide bomber who killed
more than 100 of our young sailors, why we fell in to the braake
naeee, brake naeee. Why our men lacks the automatisms to protect
themselves after 30 years of suicide attacks.
2. Why is it that not a single suicide attack was neutralised before
target ; GR OK but SF touched. All commando attacks were successful.
3. What really happened at the AAB. Detailed analysis , hardware
used by the enemy. What the general public can do to help prevent
such attacks.
4. What is this famous bunker structure under the Wanni forest cover.
Does the SLDF has a unit dedicated to study the counter measures. It
is not necessarily the top brass who can think. SLDF can profit from
feed back from imaginative persons.
PAMADO MACHCHUNO PADAM
A man who is not alert, vigilante and diligent, is as good as dead.
SLDF and SL citizens must repeat this Manthra 24 hours a day.
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Beechcraft and other test UAVs are a big lost... But still we have got
many including the 8 Kelamas who are operational and now being
used for the latest raids.
Reply

noltte=peace are you sure about another 12 uavs at other bases
Reply

Surprised to see lots of discussion about our hardware and what we
are ameliorated.
Reply

Agree Mathematica.. mum is the word!
Reply

mathamathica...the real war with the LTTE is going to be
overseas.This is why it is necessary for a lot of Slankans to have jobs
abroad and wield some political power overseas...Thankfully this
opportunity has arisen or will arise in the near future.The best way to
beat the LTTE is for SLankans to exploit educational opportunities to
the maximum.IE educational development.
Reply
DefenceNet
October 25, 2007 at 12:12 AM
As we stated before, SLAF has not lost its entire UAV fleet. We do
have operational IAI Scout and Super Scouts but more advanced UAVs
the SLAF used such as the Beech HISAR and its ground control station
are destroyed. 11th UAV flight will now have to take a step backwards
and use older hardware until replacements arrive.
We have unconfirmed news that several countries (Republic of Czech
included) have come forward to aid the SLAF in this critical time and
to provide us with new UAVs. There is a possbility of SLAF acquiring
new UAVs even by next month.
Reply
Lightning_Struck_Tower October 25, 2007 at 12:24 AM
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Somewhere in the news i heard a politician (cant remember the

name) raise the question "Why couldnt the multi million dollar MiG27s
stop black tigers?"
Did he actually expect SLAF to use MiG27s to bomb AAB to destroy the
entire base along with black tigers and be done with it?
Now thats a jackass in the making.
Reply

Thanks DefenceNet for some good news.
What is worrying however is how many more arms ships will reach the
north in the meantime.We need to be on our guard.However i am
happy we killed all/majority of the black tigers...Sadly we could not
use machetes on them in order to skin them.The forces would have
been a laughing stock if the majority of them returned.
Reply

Sounds like as long as we have some budget we can purchase some
equipments soon.
Related to killed LTTE, not sure why SL Gov. has to follow the Geneva
rules. Geneva ruling is realted to war. This is a internal matter and
we have terror but nothing else.
Reply

Guys listen up
We all know the negatives of the attack on the base. But there also
positives as well if you ask me.
Now is the time we can buy better UAVs for the military. We must
think about the future. One thing the Air Force must go for is UAVs
with real time data transfer capability. THIS IS A MUST.
I did some research and I think that the French made Sperwer UAV is a
very good choice(my choice). It costs about $7 million a pop and can
it map the terrain in 3D along with numerous other useful high tech
features.
One thing that really caught my attention with the Sperwer UAV is that
it can be fitted with two Israeli SPIKE LR ATGMs which have a range
upto 4km. As we all know, the US uses the Predator and Reaper UAVs
which fire expensive hellfire missiles at spotted enemies.
We can't afford to such expensive missiles because after all we are
still a 3rd world country fight terrorists on a limited budget. ATGMs
are much cheaper than regular missiles(ie: Tomahawk, Hellfire etc).
Imagine if we can have Sperwer UAVs fitted with SPIKE LR ATGMs, we
can take out an enemy from an altitude of 12,000ft with pinpoint
accuracy. We can easily take out high value targets, before the enemy
even knows what hit them.
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What do you guys think?

Reply

noltte=peace
What are Kelamas? Never heard of them.
Defencenet
What are the other countries apart from Czech republic that have
offered to sell us UAVs?
Reply

MathaMathica
"Surprised to see lots of discussion about our hardware and what we
are ameliorated."
This is a greate idea. We should find those kind of ideas. I'm sure in
long /short run country will benefit.
Reply

Here is a picture of a Sperwer UAV carrying two SPIKE LR ATGMs under
its wings:
http://www.defenseupdate.com/
images/sperwerB1.jpg
Reply
NOLTTE=Peace October 25, 2007 at 3:08 AM

GoldenEagle,
Your proposal sounds very interesting.
Kelama in Sinhala = 'Gossip' (there are nearly two handfuls of Scouts
and Searchers we have).. They will be called to North from the East
etc.
Reply
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noltte=peace
Ohhhhh Kelama. I should have recognized it right away. I thought it
might a name of a type of UAV. Silly me.
Yeah, I think a UAV that can fire $15,000$20,000 ATGM instead of a $
1000,000 missile is one we can afford to operate. Plus the SPIKE
system has pinpoint accuracy. Could come in handy to take out high
value targets.
Now the question is if the French are willing to sell this UAV to a non
NATO country.
BTW the Sperwer UAV's engine is also reported to be silent.
Reply
hemantha October 25, 2007 at 3:27 AM

Editorial "The Island"
Casting the first stone
The UNP has demanded that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
and Air Force Commander Roshan Goonetileke resign forthwith over
the LTTE raid on the Anuradhapura airbase.
Attempts are being made in some quarters to lionise the Tigers. But, a
proper analysis of the situation will show that the LTTE could have
carried out Mondays attack without losing so many Black Tigers. Even
its baby brigade could have accomplished that task with ease given
the serious security lapses on the part of the SLAF. The Tigers had, as
our front page picture showed on Tuesday, just removed a part of the
fence around the camp, crept in and fanned out in fives to wreak
havoc.
Now the question is: Who should be held responsible for the debacle?
Of course, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is the Commanderin
Chief of the Armed Forces, the Air Force Commander, the Defence
Secretary and those who were in charge of the illfated base must
take the blame for the the disaster. But, should they resign? If so,
then by the same token, President George W. Bush should have
resigned over the jetattack on the Pentagon and Britain should have
had many prime ministers during the World War II. For, Churchill
should have resigned over the initial failures of the British army.
In this country, the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa should have
resigned when over 600 policemen who surrendered to the LTTE on his
orders were massacred in 1990. The ignominious vacation of the
Jaffna Fort in the same year should have made the UNP leaders resign
en masse. But nothing of the sort happened. In 1985, the LTTE
massacred scores of Buddhist devotees in Anuradhapura and escaped.
But, nobody resigned!
In November 1993, the LTTE not only overran the sprawling Pooneryn
Nagathevanthurai Base but also removed battle tanks! President
Wijetunga was in power at that time, ably assisted in his war effort
by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the de facto
Defence Minister, chairing as he did the Security Council meetings.
But, we cant remember either President DB or Prime Minister
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Wickremesinghe ever offering to resign. The then Defence Secretary

Hamilton Wanasinghe also stayed put. Worse, the military officers
who were found responsible for that military disaster by a court of
inquiry were later promoted and then sent abroad as ambassadors
after retirement. The UNP government saved its face by forcing the
then Army Commander Cecil Waidyaratne to resign.
Never mind LTTE attacks. The Tigers were still on treetops, when the
galkatascarrying Rathu Sahodarayas made a foray into an airbase. In
1988, the JVP attacked the Katunayaka airbase, raided the armoury
and got away with weapons. Later, the commanding officer was found
in his undies. Neither President Premadasa nor his Defence Secretary
resigned!
The Mullativu Base fell under President Kumaratunga in July 1996 but
she, her Deputy Defence Minister and Defence Secretary carried on
regardless. The Elephant Pass base fell but no heads rolled in the PA
government. At the rate camps were falling under President
Kumaratungas regime, we should have had at least a dozen defence
secretaries. In 2001, under her watch, the Katunayake Airbase and
the International Airport came under a devastating LTTE attack. But,
there were no resignations.
What about the debacles the LTTE has suffered? Last year, it faced
humiliating losses at Mavil Aru, Muttur and Vakarai. It also had to
abandon Thoppigala, which was described as one of its impregnable
strongholds. For the last year alone, eight of its arms ships have been
destroyed. Did Prabhakaran resign? In fact, he should have resigned
way back in 1995, when he had to hook it from Jaffna all the way
down to Kilinochchi, unable to face Operation Riviresa.
There have been debacles on the political front as well. The present
day UNP has suffered a string of defeats just like the SLFP which was
a downandout loser from 1977 to 1994. But, has any head rolled in
the UNP? No!
Thus, it could be seen that there is no political leader or lackey
without sins to cast the first stone at those responsible for the
Anuradhapura debacle.
Reply
onecountry October 25, 2007 at 4:37 AM

hemantha:
True, the president is the commander in chief. But, does he go around
the bases and check their security? No. That is done by someone lower
than the president. So, no one is asking the president to resign except
for opportunistic UNPers. However, there was someone who was in
charge of the security of the base. He/she must be held responsible
for the loss of lives and equipment. Dont under estimate the effect of
this base debacle. This has potential to reverse the gains of the war.
This is a huge boost to their sagging morale. I dont have to tell you
how important morale is when you are at war. It is ironic that our
bases lack security after we had katunayake base attack. The tincans
come and bomb and go back safely. It is nothing but humiliation. Our
leaders must act.
Reply
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Contrary to what people say, its the LTTE who have won by the SLA
displaying the naked bodies of their cadres.
One, its propaganda to recruit cadres.
Two it tells the tamil population that the army will never change and
is out to humiliate the tamils.
Three it tells the dispora that they should continue to support the
LTTE as things have not chnaged in lanka since 1983.
Four it shows that the army is not proffessional and justifies LTTE's
behaviour. Furthermore it shows that the SLAF were really humiliated
in this attack. Showing your powress to dead bodies is not bravery
Lastly it tells foreign governments especially the US that they should
chnage their stance on the LTTE like Hillary did.
Reply

As far as the evidence shows like in lankadissent (who are anti but not
LTTErs) reuters, yahoo, it all points to a deliberate move to display
the naked bodies. Stopping and allowing cameras to take photos and
not covering the bodies is shameful.
As far as the mission was concerened, it was an LTTE mission of no
return. However, I am not sure that they were wearing suicide
jackets. Hence for propaganda sake calling it a suicide attack is
acceptable but in reality it was most probabily not.
Reply
Asithri October 25, 2007 at 6:46 AM

Reply

Hemantha,
Bro, thanks for that post from the Island editorial. Good read.
Overall, I agree with it, but I do have some reservations.
Now, one does not expect Gota to go round and inspect the security of
the SLAF bases and to test if the concertinawire layers, mines,
intrusion/motion detectors etc. are functioning and anyone who
claims that he should do so has to be a RW supporting shemale who is
out to make political mileage out of this fiasco.
However, SLAF chief, Roshan Goonetileka, is an another issue. He is
the commander of the SLAF and it is incumbent upon him to make the
rounds and ascertain the security of our SLAF bases (especially bases
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that hold $$$$$MILLION assets) by absolutely (not cosmetically)

making inspection field trips (with a rolled up sleeves attitude as
we say in the corporate world in the west) and examining and asking
skeptical/critical questions from the base commanders/rankers. Now
somehow, I dont think he has done this as he is based in Colombo and
enjoys a rather a plush/easy life. As someone said, it is sad to see the
SLAF performing as a 95 private business and not as a vital arm of
our national security. This must change!
In my view, no, Roshan Goonetileka must resign. This is the honorable
thing to do as that will boost the morale of the SLAF as that will
show the rank & file that not even the topbrass are immune from
facing consequences if you screw up. It is time the Colombo based
military honchos thought that their jobs are directly correlated to our
capabilities to fight the LTTE carcassmaggots. If this is dawned upon
them with no delay, then I can assure that, as we say in the business
world in the west, there will be an abundance of self motivation at
the very highest degree!
OaO Asithri
Reply

Charlie/Defnet:
I see there were rather contentious views earlier about the LTTE
bodies and the reports that some, allegedly, were carted naked in a
garbage tractor. Wow! Did someone say there are thousands dieing in
Dafur at this very minute? LMSSAO!
Defnet, I agree with your view that SLDF should not cart the dead
carcassmaggots (this OaO Asithri copyrighted term for the LTTE and I
don't ask others to agree with me; when someone takes an infant and
smashes its skull on a tree trunk for the brain matter to spew out in
front of the wailing mother and then hacks the mother too
subsequently with swords/axes to die a slow death, no, I don't
consider such a "thing" a human) as it can give a bad name to the
professional military that it is. I say this with not any moral
righteousness, but strictly based on possible detrimental effects to
SLDFs reputation. I say not on moral grounds as in my book, when
fighting TERRORISTS, it is a noholdsbarred and anything is a go
as long as the end justifies the means philosophy!
As such, in the same token, I must agree with Charlie's view that these
bodies must not be returned to the LTTE for pomp and pageantry as
maaveerars who brought down the SLAF with all the frills,
including videographing etc. that will be used as propaganda tools
for future recruitments that is child recruitments and fund raising
abroad. I personally have seen such videos/DVDs being sold at LTTE
undercover humanitarian/charitable functions even in some
Christian church premises in the West. It is best, as SLDF has
unfortunately had to (what a pity!lol!), that these fast decomposing
bodies be disposed of through burial/cremation. After all, there have
been many incidences in the past where SLDF boys who where
captured alive and subsequently murdered through hacking/cutting
with swords (usually done by the LTTE female cadres as they are
usually given heavy doses of the concocted stories detailing the
horrors of Tamil girls being raped by SLA soldiers, when they undergo
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LTTE indoctrination) were not returned to the SLDF as the bodies

were, as LTTE carcassmaggots put it, in an advanced state of
decomposing. As such, I agree with Charlie that there is nothing
wrong in not returning the carcassmaggots bodies to be used in pomp
and pageantry to boost the LTTEs morale.
In my view, fighting TERRORISM requires THININKING OUT OF THE BOX!
Unconventional warfare, needs Unconventional strategies/tactics.
OaO Asithri
Reply

Call me a hard liner, I think that it was a good idea to not give the
suicide terrorist bodies. Not only that these bodies should be
discarded very unceremoniously. It could have been much better if we
discarded these bodies with no publicity at all. The moral high
grounds we are talking about were introduced in the time of
conventional warfare and not suitable for todays antiterrorist
operations.
Reply

Reply
Illegal.existence October 25, 2007 at 7:34 AM

Asithri and Sam, I agree that the LTTE could have used the burials of
their cadres for propaganda purposes amongst the Tamils in their
areas. But not handing bodies over is a double edged sword. If we
stop handing over their bodies, they will stop handing over the bodies
of our soldiers (and such situations will continue to happen).
We owe it to all the guys fighting for the country to make sure that
doesn't happen.
Reply
Illegal.existence October 25, 2007 at 7:36 AM

"LTTE likes to talk about human rights of its killers"
hemantha, sadly the "international community" does too
Reply

Onecountry,
I agree in the most part. Everybody who is responsible should be
punished accordingly. But nobody knows weather it's the carelessness
of the A'pura base commander or the systematic negligence spread
though the Air force system. If it's the latter most of the blame will go
to the Air Force commander and some blame will go to the president
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too since the president is the one who appointed him. Let's hope that
there would be a thorough investigation to find the cause for this
debacle. Without doing that there would be a no way of rectifying the
errors.
And I don't think these opposition aholes who are asking for the
pound of flesh has anything related to the well being of the country in
their tiny minds. The Island editor explains nicely how they were
doing when they were in power in the recent past.
And a word about this body displaying thing. I wish it never happened.
But we shouldn't waste our time on that topic. Farmers like to talk
about weather. Animal lovers like to talk bout animals. LTTE likes to
talk about human rights of its killers
Reply

Let's get updated.
1.0 Our learning curve
PM said we learn from experiance. He should first read the report of
KAB attack. We should not be surprise even if LTTE do same thing
again. Our learning rate such a slow one. Also think about other
repated same style attacks. (Clarency F., Ranjan W., Parami K.,
Gotabhaya R. all similer. Gamini D., Chandrika K., Laki A., similer.
KAB, AAB similer. List goes on. This is neglegence. we need to fix this.
2.0 Buying new stuff for SLAF.
Earlier I suggested we should not invest hevily in SLAF and rather do it
for SLN and SLA and some guys objected. We need to have MI17 like
or better helicopters as they can be used at least to bring injured
soldiers from battle front soon and this will put up their moral. Our
SLAF now has proved twice how they manage all these very expensive
things. If people won't change in SLAF administration should chagne
their policy. I still beleive SLAF will deliver very little even we (tax
payer) give them high tech UAVs and MIG29s. We have little money
and if we put it into SLA and SLN we will get more. It is the foot
soldier who brings victory or defeat. These MIGs and Kfirs are good for
show and proud but too much for a poor nation.
3.0 Investigations
It is crucial to have this investigated and take corrective steps(not the
report goes to drawer missing eyes of everyone). Still we don't know
fully Sarath F. and Gotabaya R. bomb incedents.
4.0 Common sense
It seems many of our top guys have no common sense. There were no
contingance plan or any thing. I think AAB commander assumes tigers
will not attack their and did nothing. Even a AL student I guess make
more preactive steps to prevent terror attacks and make a plan B if
he was there. If our defence forces these kind of "management" stuff
they better hire few for that.
5.0 Resignations
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UNP wants every one to resign (and give the government to them). I
am not sure about this but after four times if you can't gun down
those tin cans I think some thing should happen.
6.0 Dead bodies
I don't care showing it if there is no media and an so called int.
comunity in this world. This may help to releive the anger but tiger
propaganda capitalised on that too. Dead bodies are dead and living
caders get just angered and there will be more black tigers. However
it is ridiculous to talk about human rights of sucide caders (a bishop
did).
7.0 What next
It is clear our inteligence was weak regarding this attack. We
(fishermen) found many wheopns few weeks ago in A'pura but no body
cars. We found lot of explosive in Jaffna many times. What about this
kind of attack in Palai? Comando raid with air strikes, naval attacks
and artilary from Punarin at same time 2.00 am when there is cricket
match or next sirsa kunariya? Are we ready?
MR appoints SLA guy to A'pura. What about P,naruwa and other areas?
I think we need to serously asses and upgrade the security of all our
bases.
SLAF expect tiger cans to come Colombo to gun down it as SLAF may
need some reaction time. What about smugling one tin can to
Katunayaka and using a empty road in mid night attacking KAB and go
back to vanni?
By this attack LTTE expected many things and we still can stop one
thing. That is not putting down our moral.
8.0 Types of attacks
We can clasify LTTE attack into several types and this might help
prevention.
By nature
A) Nonavathina rali (Mulathive type) high casulaties for both sides
B) Clamore casulaties zero vs high
C) Ambushcasualties low vs low
D) Single Sucidecassulaties 1 vs high (must avoid one as the targer is
high profile)
E) Group sucidecasualties few vs high (must avoid)
This mulathiv type now may not be possible if they are weak. I guess
LTTE like other types these days as they will earn a huge result with
little expense. So it's mostly about inteligence. I guess LTTE might use
that commando type attack on a VIP.
By theri intention;
A) To get revenge
B) To get publicity keep happy tamil diaspora
C) Targeting tourist industry
D) Gain whepons
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E) Gain teritory
F) To divert ALDF attention
H) For defence
Most of the time it is a combination of above.
9.0 MRno worries
MR said he deosn't worry about lost planes but the SLAF guys. I think
this is good but may misinterprations by media. I don't think even the
monetory loss is larger than our anual wastege and corruption.
10.0 Propaganda
Whatever happened it's over and whatever lost also gone. But
propaganda is not over and we need to manage it. Our SF guys gun
down more than half of that 21. This means more than half coud't
complete their mission. (Those who did commited suicide.) If some of
the planes or ammo dumps etc reamins good we should have showen
them and say "These were not damaged" while giving out damages. Or
we need another topic soon specialy to give international media to
talk about. This should not be misunderstood with hiding the truth or
protecting MR admin.
11.0 Combined forces
This idea by David is interesting. But I don't know about practical
situation. SLN lost the chance to get a ship with helicopters as SLAF
oppose it. Even within SLA unit comes first before army or country. We
need to overcome these stuff.
12.0 Summury
If we want to win this war we need to be with our forces. LTTE is the
best terror outfit in the world and SLDF is not the best army. Also we
need to understand the difference between selfjoined (ofcourse
brainwashed, racist) sucide cader and guy join SLDF for a good pay or
for a job. Think about JVP caders. Another thing this war is fought not
only in north. There are human rights front, NGO front, media front
in colombo. And international players elswhere.
Asithri is correct about out of the box. LTTE use all kind of tactics and
if we get bounded to conventional ways we are at the loosing end.
Finally, we can loose a battle but not the war.
Reply

Illegal.existance,
"sadly the "international community" does too"
May be. But it's being done and can't reverse it now. And it's a single
incident possibility of occurring again is almost zero. LTTE will keep
repeating it until they get the attention of the so called
international community. So I don't think we achieve anything
discussing this topic other than helping the LTTE.
Reply
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IllegalE
Your point about LTTE not returning bodies of our boys is valid (as a
titfortat), but keep in mind the bodies are more valuable to the
LTTE than to our side from a strategic standpoint. In our case, we in a
typical village scenario will have a private funeral and bury/cremate
the body with relatives/friends participating and grieving with no
presence from GOSL or the SLDF (well, at least only marginally and it
will be mostly silently, very much subdued). However, in LTTE's case,
such funerals are organized with pomp and pageantry, with speeches
by the LTTE honchos on the importance of sacrifice to "Tamil
homeland" and "how proud the grieving parents must be of their
son/daugher who carried out a devastating attack on the murderous
Sinhelas and has now attained the "maaveera" status that will make
him/her be born in a higher life in the next birth and s such, this
should be a happy occasion, etc. etc." No, on our side, we dont do
this type of crass hoodwinking.
Mate, in anycas, LTTE hands over bodies of our SLDF when it suits
them and at other times, they simply burn them.
No, I don't think dead bodies should be a propaganda tool for the LTTE
carcassmaggot to recruit more bodies that will end up dead!
Keep in mind that it is our sense of tradition and sense of decency
that the LTTE has depended on all these years to become what they
are today. As I said, it is time to think out of the box!
Oao Asithri
Reply
NOLTTE=Peace October 25, 2007 at 8:29 AM

Ninja Bandara,
I keep reading your interesting points.. keep contributing..
You have a great mind!
Reply

I think the idiot who stationed that advanced spy plane at the air
base should resign.Also all residences within close proximity to
airports should be cleared.We need to start a witch hunt as well in
order to determine how these guys moved their weapons without
detection.
Reply
Navindran October 25, 2007 at 1:34 PM

Again some of the bloggers do not see the point. Giving the LTTE the
bodies so what. You mean they are not going to have ceremonies. Its
being spoil spot. Accept the defeat.
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Its custom that even if you are having a feud with someone that you
still pay your respects to their family.
Reply
Rif October 25, 2007 at 2:16 PM

Guys this is what Raman is saying in his new article in saag.org
"......The commandoes, divided into groups, infiltrated into the air
base from two directions and, within 20 minutes, took the security
guards by surprise, overwhelmed them, seized their weapons and
communication equipment, neutralised a radar and an antiaircraft
gun position and then intimated their headquarters that they were in
effective control of the air base. Only then the two aircraft of the
LTTE's air wing flew to Anuradhapura and dropped two bombs on the
base and flew back safely to their hideout."
any truth in this ?
and note how biased his article is. I wonder whether he would write
with the same tone, if the attack was on an Indian air force base !
Reply

navindran is right Those bodies should be given. To there families .
The law should be same to all. In a crime scene you give the bodies of
the perpetrators to the family and not to any criminal organization.
Let the families come and claim them or we should cremate the
bodies and close the matter.
Reply

http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=8105
It looks to me this is distraction by the LTTE...This even could be the

work of our underworld gangs on behalf of the LTTE...
Another attack somewhere else is imminent....
Reply
onecountry October 25, 2007 at 5:46 PM

defencenet:
Is it true that LTTE attacked army at Tissamaharama killing 5 soldiers?
Reply

Guys,can u pls confirm the total no of UAV's that we had in our
fleet,comprising of IAI SCOUT,SUPER SCOUT & IAI SEARCHER UAV'S..&
also,defencenet,i guess you mean the Beeechcraft200 HISAR is an
advanced manned surveillance aircraft?
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Reply

Onecountry, MCNS is denying it, but now I see item on Tamilnet
claiming 6 navy personnel KIA and 12 WIA by an ambush in the area.
Defencenet please give us the truth as always! Thanks.
Reply

DefenceNet ..(when you have the time)...any truth about the ambush
of a navy bus at tissamaharama.
Reply
chameera October 25, 2007 at 8:20 PM

the story is not true...nothing happned in tissa...
Reply
Qrious October 25, 2007 at 8:27 PM

Guys,
It is high time a good general was appointed to oversee the southern
province above DIG as well, before it is too late. The police alone
is not competent enough for the task.
A soldier in the league of Major General Karunaratna's or Major
General Lorence Fernando will do the job.
We cannot afford to offer terrorists another bout of morale booster
at the expense of our innocent soldiers
Reply
ogre October 25, 2007 at 8:46 PM

The Airforce personel had a party and were highly distracted during
the attack! This is what happened before the attack according to
reliable sources.
Reply
KBS October 25, 2007 at 8:52 PM

Was there a tiger ambush on SLN in Amparai region?
Reply

ogre did the entire base have a party or was it only some in the rank
of officer?
Reply
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hemantha October 25, 2007 at 10:07 PM

Guys,
Please read the following article. We discussed this earlier too (a
little bit). But I believe this is important. It's not clear what she
thinks exactly. But she is going to be the next president in US. We
might have to adjust our war time table accordingly (I believe).
"US Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton this week urged a more
nuanced approach to armed nonstate actors, arguing "the bottom line
is, you can't lump all terrorists together. what the Tamil Tigers are
fighting for in Sri Lanka, or the Basque separatists in Spain, or the
insurgents in alAnbar province may only be connected by tactics."
Senator Clinton made her comments to Michael Tomasky of Britain's
'The Guardian' newspaper in an interview which covered Iraq, the
legacy of the Cold War and ceding executive powers.
When asked "do you think that the terrorists hate us for our freedoms,
or do you think they have specific geopolitical objectives?", she
replied:
"Well, I believe that terrorism is a tool that has been utilized
throughout history to achieve certain objectives. Some have been
ideological, others territorial. There are personalitydriven terroristic
objectives."
"The bottom line is, you can't lump all terrorists together. And I think
we've got to do a much better job of clarifying what are the
motivations, the raisons d'tre of terrorists."
"I mean, what the Tamil Tigers are fighting for in Sri Lanka, or the
Basque separatists in Spain, or the insurgents in alAnbar province
may only be connected by tactics. They may not share all that much in
terms of what is the philosophical or ideological underpinning."
"And I think one of our mistakes has been painting with such a broad
brush, which has not been particularly helpful in understanding what
it is we were up against when it comes to those who pursue terrorism
for whichever ends they're seeking"
Reply

hemantha i wouldn't worry about it:).let her become president first.
Reply
nwreader October 25, 2007 at 10:18 PM

Dear defencenet
Is this true?
6 SLN killed in Tiger ambush in Hambantota
[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 October 2007, 12:02 GMT]
A guerilla commando unit of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE)
Thursday evening ambushed a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vehicle, a bus
carrying more than 25 SLN personnel, in Thissamaharama in the
Hambantota division of the southern province, killing 6 SLN personnel,
LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Claiming
that the attack was a gunfire ambush, Mr. Ilanthirayan said 12 SLN
personnel were wounded in the attack that took place at 16:35 p.m.
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Thissamaharama division is situated in the constituency of the Sri

Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Reply
KBS October 25, 2007 at 11:53 PM

Reply

Thissamaharama Attack?
The Tamilnet has claimed 'LTTE Commandos' have ambushed a Sri
Lanka Navy bus killing six sailors. DefenceWire has heard otherwise. A
bus carrying a group of naval ratings has stopped and the ratings on
board had opened fire on what they had considered an enemy
presence. The bus, which is a heavily armed vehicle, did not show any
signs of gunshot or shrapnel damage. No presence of LTTE cadres, let
alone 'Commandos' are reported in the area.defencewire
Reply

Hilori Clinton might win. But her statment is not just her idea. It's
hard work of tamil diaspora in USA. What we are doing? Displaying
naked bodies.
Reply

ninja bandara
Actually its the Indian Lobby that threw its full weight behind Hillary.
The Clintons(Bill and Hillary) have been known to garner massive
support from Asians and Asian lobbies. This was also the case in the
90's.
The Indian lobby has grown in size and influence in the last 10 years,
and I bet there are many Tamils and South Indians in it who are
supporters of the LTTE.
It seems these days that lobbies from foreign governments are
deciding the direction of the US government. The American citizens
are getting pissied and they it can soon reach the tipping point. Lets
see what happens.
Even if Hill wins, the Republicans are watching like hawks for any
error on her part to paint her as "soft on terrorism". The American
people beyond anything else want security(after 9/11) and it does not
bode well for Hillary if her actions get her tagged as "soft on
terrorism". So if she wins, she still must carefully manuveur around a
political minefield.
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Goldeneagle, you may be correct. But sri lankans (sinhalese) in USA
are doing very little as I know.
Reply

In the case of the US, its resources are being drained because of the
war. Dont get me wrong but war is good bussiness anywhere.
However during the second world war, it was europe that was freed
the US from the great depression through massive weapon purchases.
Today the US is being drained by fighting others wars.
It will be prudent and accepted by the US to reduce their "enemies".
You do not want the basque or LTTE to link with Al qida and launch a
coordinated attack on the US.
Hillary Clinton will win. She even has the African American vote. The
general US populance is sick of war. There are more than 20 000
mamed young men from the Iraq war. Over 3000 dead. The United
States has failed in Iraq and it will eventually withdraw like Vietnam.
All the allies of the US have silently fallen back. Bush can be
considered the worst president in the US.
The main reason is because he does not listen to advice outside his
inner circle, has wierd beliefs that guide him and he thinks he is some
god choosen chrusader.
Reply

Ninja Bandara
Navindran touched a good point, there have been ties between LTTE
and Al Queda and Taliban. If the Hillary tries to give verbal support to
the LTTE, the Republicans will have a rain down punches on her. She
will be finished if the Republicans take advantage of this.
Any US politian must be out of their mind if they believe they can get
away with supporting an organization that has ties to USA's mortal
enemies Al Queda and Taliban. It would garantee a swift demise of
their political career if it is exposed on national news.
Reply

Guys,
Following is the "Daily Mirror" version of the Anuradhapura Air Base
attack.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/10/26/opinion/02.asp
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Ogre:
The Airforce personel had a party and were highly distracted during
the attack! This is what happened before the attack according to
reliable sources
Agree, and I too received same info. The base commander and his
officers likely were at that party in the SLA Saliyapura base (the
details will come out shortly in the enquiry established) and in my
view the whole damn clique of those bungling bastards must be sacked
and court martialled . The enquiry must include a close review of
what the SLAF commander Roshan G has done to assure the security of
the base and if proven he was lax or sloppy, then he too must be
sacked immediately. This is an exercise that required a no hold
barred and take no prisoner mindset.
nwreader:
Is this true?
6 SLN killed in Tiger ambush in Hambantota
Not at all! This is a load of bloody crap put out by the TamilNut. It is
in the interest of the LTTE maggots to create hysteria and fear
psychosis in the south as they see thats how they can assure their
shemale pansy friend, RW, can become the executive President of the
country as then they know they will be given the thamileelam this
time on a platter!
Now for some positive news from DM:
Basil on Anuradhapura attack
By Sandun A Jayasekera
All airplanes and helicopters damaged and destroyed in Monday's LTTE
attack on the Anuradhapura airbase will be replaced shortly with the
help of friendly countries, said senior presidential advisor Basil
Rajapaksa yesterday.
A number of countries had already made inquiries from the
government to assist in this regard, Mr. Rajapaksa told the Daily
Mirror
Declining, for obvious reasons, to disclose the names of the countries
that had come forward to help the government, he said the
government was determined not to let the Anuradhapura attack affect
the war effort and that it would replenish all the aircraft sooner
rather than later.
New military aircraft to be purchased
By Sunil Jayasiri
The National Security Council which met on Wednesday, just days
after the Air Force lost eight aircraft in the LTTE attack on the
Anuradhapura air base, decided to immediately purchase a number of
new military aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force.
OaO Asithri
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Asithri,
To me, following sentence of the Basil Rajapaksa interview is the most
important.
"The war against the LTTE must be given the priority over all other
business of the government"
I believe it's a policy statement. And this is the first time ever the
government made such a comment.
Reply

Good, hopefully now we will get better UAVs than the ones lost to the
attack.
Reply
Hasalaka October 26, 2007 at 10:37 AM

Guys
The remaining beach crafts was the new one compared to the one we
lost. So the government in a hurry trying to order another few UAVs
we have to get some very quickly cos we lost the most of it
DefenceNet CAN u confirm this mate .....
Reply

Agree with you Goldeneagle. Thats the bright line in this dark cloud.
There wouldn't be a great city called Chicago if it wasn't completely
destroyed by a fire in 1871. Similarly San Francisco would be a second
tire city if it wasn't destroyed by a fire in 1906.
Reply

Vp is waiting for hilary.This is why he wants to declare the north as a
seperate country soon.He is of the opinion that we are going to start
knitting classes en masse.Lets see.
Reply

Sri Lankan,
It looks like Sri Lanka will have to fight tooth and nail for her
existance. It's heartening to see that the government intends the
same. We will have to fight not only with LTTE but with time too. We
can't wait another year to start the offensive as Goldeneagle demand
always. Time to time there would be debacles. But stopping is not an
option.
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Reply
kiri October 26, 2007 at 11:24 AM

Dear Bloggers,
Is Hilary wooing the Tamil Vote Bank?
Reply
David Blacker October 26, 2007 at 11:28 AM

"I think it was a good move with regards to the naked LTTE bodies"
I think it was bloody pathetic, and just underlines the fact that the
best the GoSL can do is disrespect the dead. The base was unable to
stop the attack, but now we're saying, "Hey, look what big brave
buggers we are, we can take the clothes off a dead Tiger." What do
they want, a medal? I think the tiny amount of facesaving done by
this act is countered by the propoganda victory we're handing to the
LTTE on top of their military victory. This is the act of a tinpot
barbarian, not that of a democratic government.
"This has bothered the LTTE so much that they have released a
statement over it!"
Don't be absurd. Do you think the bunch that is ready and willing to
send women and little children out to blow themselves up give a fuck
about a few naked bodies? They're using it for propoganda, and it's
working.
"Clearly the parents new their sons and daughters were going this
mission and did nothing to stop them or alert the authorities"
You're being silly, Charles. Do you think parents of SL special forces
are notified when their sons are off on a top secret mission? Obviously
not, so why would the LTTE tell civilians about what was really a
superbly executed SASstyle commando op, very similar to the Pebble
Island raid during the Falklands War, when the Brit SAS wiped out the
Argentine closesupport capability.
"From now on, the bodies of dead LTTE suicide cadres (not normal
react."
I'm sure this makes sense to a civilian who has nothing but hatred to
attack the LTTE with, but it isn't the act of a soldier. Suicide bombing
(and this raid wasn't one btw) is an effective guerrilla/terrorist tool,
and whatever it is, it isn't cowardly. I'm sure it takes a lot of guts to
kill yourself for your cause. Do you think Corporal Gamini aka
Hasalaka Gamini was a coward for suicidally attacking the Tiger
armoured bulldozer that had penetrated the EPS lines? Respect your
enemy, if you want to defeat him. Blind hatred and attrocities might
seem cute when you're downing your arrack&soda in a bar, but it
doesn't work in war.
As for suicide cadres knowing whats in store for them, I doubt they're
under any illusions. Anyone who's willing to give their lives, won't care
about their bodies. They already think we''re animals, we've just
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proven we are. And from on, I can bet the captured bodies of SL
soldiers will be treated the same.
"On LTTE websites, the tone of glee has turned into outrage. And
that's a good thing."
I think you're a victim of Tiger propoganda, Charles. You shouldn't
believe everything you read on LTTE websites :)
"Let's take a leaf out of the Israeli book. They even demolish the
houses of the families of suicide bombers"
That's right, because it's effective. They don't display bodies, which is
barbaric. Israel is a civilised first world country that's proven its
effectivity in the war on terrorism. Dispaly of enemy bodies just
proves that you're helpless to do anything effective. Basically, you
can't hit what counts, so you take childish kick at the dead. As the
saying goes "Even a dog may look on a dead lion". Or Tiger in this
case.
"On the contrary, I think the photos are very demoralising to the LTTE
and the LTTE supporters, defencenet."
Do you know any, Charles?
"Yes defencenet, they do not care about what we think, but they do
care about what their people/LTTE think."
What rubbish. They don't give a shit what their people think. All they
care about is controlling their people. And the humiliations incurred
by the bodies will help the Tigers incite more hatred for the
Sinhalese. Put yourself in an LTTEers shoes (if you can), or imagine
that this was done to an SF patrol; if you saw this done to your
friends or comrades by the Tigers, would you fear the Tigers or hate
them more. I think the answer's obvious.
"If you carry out a suicide attack, you will be humiliated and your
body will not be returned to the LTTE."
Fortunately the Army's led by men of honour, and I doubt this act will
be repeated.
But in the end, I think the whole "parading" story's bullshit. As Noltte
saays, the bodies were covered and lying in a tractor trailer outside
the morgue when onlookers asked to have a look. They were shown
the bodies by a few of the soldiers there. That's all. Unfortunately,
some took photos.
"Call me a hard liner, I think that it was a good idea to not give the
suicide terrorist bodies. Not only that these bodies should be
discarded very unceremoniously."
Maybe so, Sam, but this will result in no Army bodies being returned
either. When that happens the soldiers are listed as MIA and their
families get no benefits.
"Mate, in anycas, LTTE hands over bodies of our SLDF when it suits
them and at other times, they simply burn them."
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Asithri, they usually burn them when the Army refuses to accept the
bodies. The Army routinely does this when bodies cannot be poitively
ID'd. The Army defends this policy on the grounds that the LTTE maybe
handing over bodies of their own caadres or civilians in order to boost
the Army bodycount. The LTTE almost never disposes of Army bodies if
it can hand them over, cos acceptance of the bodies is also
acceptance of the bodycount. The only times they've disposed of
bodies is after mass executions, as with the police force in the East in
'90, and when they executed all the captured Navy personnel at
Pooneryn.
"The Army, Navy and Air Force should be dismantled and established
the SLDF, which is commanded by the National Defense Council (NDC).
The NDC should be headed by the President."
I don't think having a politician in command of the SLDF is a very good
idea! The SLDF should be commanded by an infantry general. An NDC
should be ONLY a policymaking body, and if at all should be chaired
by the SecDef.
"Did he actually expect SLAF to use MiG27s to bomb AAB to destroy the
entire base along with black tigers and be done with it?"
I think what he meant was, what's the point spending billions on high
tech aircraft if those hightech aircraft caan be knocked out in one
night by 21 lowtech Black Tigers. He might have a point.
Reply

Asithri,
Lets wait for the conclusion of the inquiry.I hope it is made public
because the general public is the best source of information we have.
however credit must be given to the airforce for their efforts for
1)Being capable of launching a joint coordinated operation with the
SForces(another branch of SLDF)They didnt say "agollo hamudawe"
and start shooting them.
2)Fighing well since it appears they lacked sufficient airforce
personnel to patrol the airbase.A +++.
Shooting that bell helicopter although tragic demonstrates that they
were determined.. determined ..not to allow any of these dirty black
coolies to escape.You cannot really blame the officers because they
undertook that level of security they always take.What is needed is a
"kick ass" general like the Gen appointed by Hon pres to kick their
arses with more vigourous training routines and keep these guys on
their toes.
A happy outcome of this event is that the forces killed most of them
before they ran amock in local villages and got into the "baby bashing"
routine
.They actually came to have a party but found that things had
changed and started dispersing within the airbase when confronted
with force.So did the airforce do that badly?.
Whatever anyone may say some of these guys wanted to return
(including suicide bomberscarrying a suicide kit on your back does not
necessaryly follow that you intended to blow yourself or are a suicide
bomberyou could however have intended to plant it in the airbase
and takeout advancing army unitskill as many advancing soldiers as
possible once you controlled the airbase)to carryout similar attackes
in the future.20 years ago these guys would have massacred several
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villages and flown all the planes out as well and their parents would
have received them with garlands.This is why these fellows are
smarting about this "body" issue.If it was me i would not have even
bothered to take any photos.After incinaration i would have flushed
their remains down the toilet.Take it from me that certain parties up
north are fumeing that they lost 21 cadres.
Reply

I think we must give more protection to ships and army vehicles( arti
& MBRLs ) too bcos they may try to give this kind of attack to them
also.
Reply

The question is:If they really wanted to die why retreat?.You can take
at least one soldier with you and get killed.the fact is that the army
blocked their retreat with the help of Airforce.So they had to die.
Reply

Hemantha.. thanks for your comments.Fighting tooth and nail will do
us good.It will unite all peace loving peoples of SLanka (except
terrorist elements)regardless of race even more.Hemantha do you
know how many suicide bombers were in this elite LTTE "sas" unit?.The
unnecessary pics on defense.lk did not show many suicide kits.
Reply
Navindran October 26, 2007 at 1:39 PM

I think David Blacker was point on in regards to the dead LTTE bodies.
Some bloggers should wise up and be more matured.
Do you really think the by insulting the dead and stripping them you
are a hero. Look at the photos. It was a delibrate attempt to
humiliate the dead LTTE and also tell the people look they are all
dead, no this place is safe.
It simply means that if your house is robbed, you will not trust the
police and that your place is safe until they show you his dead body.
As far as the continuing taunting of Ranil and the UNP in this blog. I
want to know such damages to the airforce (3 times) and twice in 6
months was done during the UNP rule.
When Ranil signed the CFA he foxed the LTTE into a stalemate. They
needed a breather from 9/11 and Ranil used it against them. During
UNP rule,they ordered the beechcraft which helped take out the LTTE
floating warehouses.
This was celebrated by SLFP by fanciful parades etc. Today why is
GOTA not resigning for the loss of the planes.
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I believe that a hardline leader like Bush, Mahindha look good at the
start as they seem to get the results. However in the long run they do
more damage then the rest.
If the LTTE is anytime closer to achieving an EELAM, I guess its now. It
does not mean they will but they have wanted Mahindha to achieve
this.
I do not support the UNP who are one of the primary reasons for this
conflict.
Reply

David
100% agree with you mate. It's pretty stupid for gosl to claim this
attacks as a cowardly attack cos whatever said and done and which
side we're cheering....these 21 men and women achieved their
objective with flying colors... we have to respect that courage cos
those folks are also sri lankans and they fought bravely against a
superior enemy...
It's really pathetic the way gosl and sldf handled the whole dead black
tigers issue... If at all it'll further strengthen the morale of the ltte
fighting cadre and not the other way around...
It's shameful beyond comparison the low levels sldf folks have gone
into with this... we were outsmarted by 21 elite tigers and the best
we can do is to parade their naked bodies in public...how sick is
that... pathetic
btw david...you didn't join our offroading friends this weekend for
their weekend adventure?
Reply

Sri Lankan, which planet are you on?
Coordinated defense? Don't make me laugh. The SLAF had lost control
of most of the airbase north of the runway and could not dislodge the
Tigers even in daylight. The Army saved their arses. If not the Tigers
would still be there.
And you're actually commending the SLAF for shooting down our own
aircraft???? Jesus.
"They actually came to have a party but found that things had
changed and started dispersing within the airbase when confronted
with force.So did the airforce do that badly?."
This is pure fantasy. Have you actually managed to delude yourself
into thinking this is some sort of victory? The Tigers came in to destroy
the SLAF's recce and surveillance capability and die in the attempt.
They did it almost completely. So yes, saying the SLAF did badly is to
put it very mildly. They did fucking horribly is how I'd put it. Thank
God the MoD agrees and they've now put the Army in charge of airbase
security.
Coming up with fairy tales about preventing the Tigers attacking
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villages and magically flying out the aircraft is laughable. We got our
butts kicked badly. Swallow your pride and get over it. No war is
defeat free.
To learn from defeat you must first admit its a defeat, and then take
it apart and analyse it, not stick your head in the sand and pretend
it's some sort of victory.
Reply

is it thinking free or what
http://thinkfreed.blogspot.com/2007/10/paradiseisleandits
conspiracy.html
Reply

Hey, Ranil, no, planning to go down to Hikka instead.
Reply

"During UNP rule,they ordered the beechcraft which helped take out
the LTTE floating warehouses."
I doubt if the Beech HISAR was actively involved in the most recent
destruction of the LTTE floating warehouses, although it would have
been involved in the earlier detection of LTTE weapons smuggling
ships closer to land (early this year and last year).
The latest interceptions were at a range of 1200km to 1700km from
land. The Beech Super King Air has a range of only 3,300km (max
1600km each way). The Raytheon radar in the maritime surveillance
mode can detect ships out to a range of around 200km. So although
theoretically within range, unless they knew the exact position of the
ships at a given time, the Beech wouldn't have the loitering capacity
to search the area, especially in the case of the latter interception. If
we believe the SLN account that they had to wait for several days (if
not a week or so) for the LTTE ships to turn up, its unlikely the HISAR
was involved in flying that far out to sea on a daily basis to detect the
ships.
In the case of the deep sea interceptions, I think the credit goes
mostly to naval intelligence.
The loss of the HISAR is a still a big loss though. However the biggest
loss from the HISAR is not in terms of maritime recon (which the SLN
can manage with their OPV's for the time being), but in the loss of the
AEW, and ground target detection capabilities which were also
provided by the Raytheon radar.
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David
aahh yes... good ol mumbo's... :)
couple of leo buggers will be there too...
Reply

david blacker,i beg to differ on your comment that israel is a civilized
first world country.they are not as they seem to appear.their
occupation of palestinian homelands & driving them forcibly out &
making palestinians refugees in their own country is sick..
I was overjoyed when hizbollah gave the socalled mighty israeli's
something to think about last year,when around 80+ israeli troops felt
their arse's heating uphe.he.no offense,DB,but i think israeli's are
officiallysanctioned barbarian's,supported by uncle SAM,of course!!
(the jewish lobby in the us runs the USA)
Reply
Kun October 26, 2007 at 4:41 PM

Daily news article about Anuradhapura Air Base attack.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/10/26/
fea02.asp
Reply

Dear David,
Your comments are well received. As you know i am no military man
by a longshot but why do i get the feeling these guys didnt just want
to destroy only the aircraft.They wanted to mine the base and escape
into the jungle to create havoc another day...kill innocent
people.They naturally assumed they will die but not before doing a
lot more damage than they did..not just materials.If the airforce
soldiers were not there..say all killed what would have
happened?.what i want to know is did the airforce engage them till
the army got there?....I think the worst scenario would have been if
they did what they came to do and saved themselves as well.
Reply

Defencenet,
The dailynews article gives the registration number of the Beech that
was destroyed as CR842 and year of acquisition as 1984. That is the
Beech SIGNIT. The HISAR was CR843.
Can you confirm whether is was the HISAR or the less valuable SIGNIT
that was destroyed?
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I remember telling that we have to precautions when handling
explosives like this...
What a disaster...
Tamilnet claims it was a clamour blast...
Reply

I wouldn't expect anything less than that from you, Rifard. But thank
God for those "officiallysanctioned barbarians" who have supported
us throughout this war, and without whom we wouldn't have the UAV
capability we did. :)
"They wanted to mine the base and escape into the jungle to create
havoc another day...kill innocent people"
That's just an assumption not based on reality, SL. The Tigers learned
from the Katu raid (obviously we didn't). They know there's no escape
from such a deep penetraation raid. And there has never been even
one instance of a Black Tiger unit escaping after such an attack
CBSL, Katu, Kolonnawa, etc. They came to destroy the aircraft and
die they succeeded.
The SLAF security detail isn't there to kill Tigers after they've blown
up the planes, they're to STOP the the planes being blown up. So
patting them on the back because the Tigers are dead isn't very
useful. The planes are gone. The Tigers exchanged 21 Black Tigers for
8 aircraft; all we did was close the deal.
Reply

Thanks for your input David
Reply

I understand that israel is a longtime supplier of weapons to SL,but
they are not our only weaponssuperstore!!..take Iran,South
africa,russia & other countries for example..now we have to turn
towards the czech republic for UAV's,if i'm not mistaken?
Reply

Adding to my previous comments,almost every israeliweapons deal is
riddled with corruption.take the SAAR4 boat deal,TCM20AAA
deal,Kfir deal,etc..their motive is typical,cunning jewishmaximum
profit at any costi.e,weapons malfunctioning on a regular basis..
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THE TARGETS OF terror outfits are unpredictable. But their final goal
is always aimed at terrorising society to bring pressures on
Governments to accede to their demands or to put a stop to any
campaign against them.
Going through the nature of LTTE attacks targeting Security Forces or
civilian targets, it is obvious that they resort to such attacks as they
are either in a desperate situation or as a provocative act to get the
Government Forces to do battle with it.
The LTTE clearly showed its desperation and also its weak position
with their attack on an isolated Army detachment inside the Yala
National Park hundreds of miles away from the battlefronts in the
Wanni last week. That was a clear attempt to divert the attention of
the Security Forces from the Wanni, where the LTTE was receiving a
severe beating.
However, their second attack within a week, this time targeting the
air assets of the Sri Lanka Air Force came in a well planned manner.
The aim of the LTTE is to get rid of the huge pressure exerted by the
Air Force, which has made it tough going for the outfit in the Wanni.
This time they have launched the attack targeting the air assets of the
Sri Lanka Air Force, disregarding even the human cost involved in the
attack as the Tigers are very keen on getting rid of this huge headache
which hinder all its efforts to go for all out war against the Security
Forces in the Wanni battle fronts.
Having failed in three consecutive attempts to make use of their novel
but crude air capability to destroy SLAF air assets, in early this year,
Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran this time retained high faith on
their usual ground fighters to launch this attack on the Anuradhapura
air base.
It was around 3.30 a.m. when the Airmen manning the guard post
close to the new Nuwara road in the North Eastern edge of the runway
from the direction of the Nuwara Wewa, detected the Tiger
infiltration into the air base by cutting open the barbed wire fences
of the Air Base.
That edge of the runway of the Air Base was subjected to controversy
recently, with the launch of the ongoing runway extension project,
with civilians living there protesting against the project fearing they
would lose their habitations for the runway expansion project.
The Tiger cadres had cut off the double fence after disconnecting the
sound mines and removing the antipersonnel mines to infiltrate into
the Air Base.
Therefore, it is believed that the Tiger cadres who infiltrated the Air
Base were highly trained cadres on mine clearing and were capable of
defusing sound mines which needs higher level of training.
As the Tiger cadres infiltrated into the Air Base, the airmen manning
the Guard post at the edge of the Air Base, fired at the Tiger
movements coming out of the Guard post.
The airmen there escaped from the RPG attack of the LTTE as they
fired at the LTTE movements taking cover behind the sand bank,
coming out of the Guard post.
With the RPG fire at the Guard Post, the entire Air Base was alerted
and the airmen manning the guard posts in the North of the runway
also detected the Tiger movement and started firing at them. But the
Tiger cadres were careful enough not to direct fire at them fearing
that they would be exposed.
The Tigers took cover behind earth mounds on the edge of the runway
piled there for construction of the runway extension.
The Tiger cadres moved fast through this area which was about 600 to
55/65
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700 metres without firing any RPGs at any of the guard posts despite
the airmen guarding an elevated guard post at the edge of the runway
firing at the Tiger movement, in order to reach the runway quickly.
By this time the entire Air Base had been alerted about the LTTE
infiltration and the airmen who detected the Tiger movement started
firing from various directions.
An Armoured Personnel Carrier of the SLAF also emerged from the
Northern side of the runway, directing fire at the Tiger cadres who
were reaching the edge of the runway from the North East direction.
But the gunner on top was hit by Tiger fire and the APC ground to a
halt close to the hanger of the Air Base with damage caused to its
tyres.
By that time the Tiger cadres had already reached the North Eastern
edge of the runway passing the earth mounds on that part of the
runway extension project.
The Tiger cadres broke into two groups at the edge of the runway, one
group moving from the southern direction and another group moving
from the Northern direction of the runway. A larger group, compared
to the other group moved from the southern direction of the runway.
The group moving from the southern direction of the runway first
fired RPGs at two PT6 basic trainer aircraft parked at the south east
end of the runway. The two aircraft were damaged in the Tiger fire.
By this time the Tiger cadres were facing heavy resistance from the
airmen since the whole Air Base had by now come fully awake.
Meanwhile, the group moving from the Northern side of the runway
also started firing at the Guard Posts in front of the Hanger amidst
heavy resistance from the airmen manning the bunkers.
The group moving from the southern side of the runway had reached
the centre of the runway and fired another RPG at two MI24 combat
helicopter gunships. One helicopter gunship was completely destroyed
in the fire but the damages caused to the other helicopter were
minor.
By this time the group which were moving from the Northern end of
the runway was facing stiff resistance. As they were a small group
they could not sustain the fire from the Air Force troops. Therefore,
the group which moved from the southern direction turned towards
the Northern side of the runway with the objective of reaching and
destroying more aircraft.
As the team reached the middle of the runway the group was fired at
from the Air Traffic Control tower located on the Northern end of the
runway. From the southern end too there was stiff resistance to the
group. As the LTTE team reached the centre of the runway from the
southern flank there was an explosion as one suicide cadre was hit by
Air Force fire.
Some eight or 10 Tiger cadres were believed to have died in the blast
and the entire group was liquidated except for one or two cadres.
Reinforcements were rushed to the Air Base from the adjoining army
camps by this time as two Guard Posts located on a high rise in front
of the hanger was taken control of by the Tigers together with the
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12/1/2016
antiaircraft guns.
The fourth attack of the LTTE directed towards the B 200 T Beech
craft parked in the Northern side of the runway. The beech craft
surveillance plane were reduced to ashes in the Tiger fire. Then the
K8 jet trainer parked closer to the hanger was hit by Tiger fire and it
went up in a blaze and was completely destroyed.
The Tiger cadres who took control of the Two Guard Posts in front of
the hanger started firing at the Air Control Tower and an Air Force
officer was killed by a sniper shot from a Tiger cadre who was on a
tree close to the Guard Post.
By this time the Tiger cadres started directing fire at the Hangar. Due
to the fire directed at the hangar three aircraft, one MI17 Medium
Lift helicopter, PT6 Basic Pilot Trainer aircraft and a Bell jet ranger
206 helicopter were destroyed.
At this moment a Bell helicopter fitted with guns took wing from the
Vavuniya Air Base in support of the troops at the Anuradhapura Air
Base.
The radars at the Vavuniya Air Base also detected, two Tiger aircraft
that had taken off from the Wanni and were heading towards
Anuradhapura.
While the guns were blazing inside the airbase the two Tiger fixed
wing aircraft appeared on the scene and dropped four bombs, but no
damage was done by this since the bombs fell on a vacant plot close
to the Army camps.
A few cattle lying closer to the airbase were killed by these bombs.
The two aircraft hovered around for only about two or three minutes
before heading in the direction of Vavuniya with their mission
unsuccessful. It was between 4.20 and 4.23 am by the time the two
aircraft moved away after their abortive foray.
Due to the confusion inside the air base and also due to neutralising
of the antiaircraft guns by the infiltrated Tiger cadres, no action
could have been taken against the two aircraft since non of the
aircraft could be taken out of the air base.
By the time the LTTE aircraft were returning the Bell helicopter which
was heading towards Anuradhapura also crashed in Doramadalawa due
to suspected technical failure. The last reaction of the pilots had
been heard at 4.21 am prior to the crash at Doramadalawa in
Mihintale. Air Force Investigations are now on to ascertain the reason
for the crash.
The Special Forces troops were called into the Air Base as the two
bunkers which were under the control of the Tiger cadres could not be
neutralised at day break on Monday.
The Air Force troops backed by the Special Forces, launched a major
assault on the two Guard Posts in order to neutralise the Tiger cadres
there. It was following this assault on the two Guard Posts that the
Security Forces could take full control of the Air Base, by around 8 am
in the morning.
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12/1/2016
In the search operations troops took a head count of 19 Tigers dead

and collected their strewn body parts. Therefore, it has now been
confirmed that 21 senior level Black Tiger cadres were killed in the
attack.
Twelve Air Force personnel including two officers, were also killed in
the confrontations while 20 others sustained injuries.
We produce here a graphic illustrating the number of aircraft
destroyed on the ground with such details as the year of purchase of
these aircraft and their registered numbers.
Apart from these aircraft a number of other aircraft were also slightly
damaged in the attack due to the heat effect and flying shrapnel.
The SLAF is now assessing the extent of damage caused to these
aircraft in order to repair them and reintroduced to the fleet.
Following this deadly attack on the Anuradhapura air base the
Defence Ministry under the instructions of President Mahinda
Rajapaksa appointed Major General Sanath Karunaratne as the
Overall Operations Commander of Anuradhapura.
Accordingly he will be in charge of all operational matters connected
to Armed Force and the Police, Civil Security Department,
Intelligence Agencies and also the commercial security firms in the
Anuradhapura district. Two committees of the Sri Lanka Air Force, the
Criminal Investigation Department, Police and the Defence Ministry
are conducting separate investigations into the incident.
It has now been revealed that the Tiger cadres have reached the Air
Base from the direction of the Nuwara Wewa connected to Pulleyar
junction of Anuradhapura.
The CID is also investigating whether the beheading of a civilian
called Daniel Appuhamhy, a wood cutter in the nearby jungle in
Kannaliya Ashokapura, too was connected to the incident.
The rubber slippers found close to his body was similar to that of the
rubber slippers found along with the Tiger bodies.
Therefore, the path taken by the Tiger cadres and whether there was
any security lapse at the Air Force Base will be revealed with the
completion of these investigations.
The attack on the Sri Lanka Air Force base came as no surprise
considering the extent of damage caused by the Air Force to the Tiger
military and logistic capabilities in the Wanni in the recent air attack
targeting LTTE training camps, military bases and logistics facilities.
Though the LTTE could not achieve any success, despite the Tiger
media campaign displaying its crude air planes, the SLAF achieved
much success using its limited air resources within the past few
months. The SLAF created a situation for the LTTE to limit its training
activities with the number of air attacks targeting LTTE training bases.
The most recent successful air raid targeting an LTTE training base
was at Chempankundu, in Pooneryn in which more than 60 cadres
were killed and 40 injured. That was a huge blow to the LTTE as they
58/65
12/1/2016
could not conduct any military training openly in the Wanni whilst
also sparing many civilians from being recruited for compulsory
military training.
Apart from this the air attacks on the LTTE fuel dumps and
ammunition dumps has put the LTTE in a desperate situation.
The destruction of the LTTE ships in international waters coupled with
these air attacks have pushed the LTTE to the brink in the ongoing
battles in the Wanni.
The following list of air attacks and the confirmed results gives a
clear picture as to why the LTTE targeted Sri Lanka Air Force Base in
Anuradhapura which was the most vulnerable for attacks.
Whatever the losses caused due to the LTTE attack, the SLAFs fighting
capability remains intact, with their fighter jets continuing their
usual air raids against the Tiger hideouts in the Wanni.
Therefore, the attack on the SLAF Base in Anuradhapura is a clear
indication of the success of the SLAF attacks on LTTE targets and its
inability to withstand attacks of this nature.
(Courtesy : Daily News)
Reply

Sorry about the length of this article on defense.lk
Reply

Ha Ha. Some fake LTTE web blog,
http://thinkfreed.blogspot.com/2007/10/paradiseisleandits
conspiracy.html
OaO Assithri (note the additional S in Assithri) also posting there LOL..
:)
Reply

Can someone pls confirm how many & what model make of TripleA
guns did we have at Anuradhapura AB,pls..
Reply

SLAF has been lucky to move the HISAR to Amapara for Eastern
Maritime Recon , and got the SIGNIT lost, which does not have the
longrange and advanced recon.
But it is nothing to celebrate compared to what has been lost overall.
59/65
12/1/2016
Reply

Well, if HISAR is safe (still to be officially confirmed) then thank god
for small mercies. That still doesn't excuse the pathetic performance
of the SLAF that night. They should have at least got the damn thing
off the ground and used it to find out where the LTTE planes landed,
even if we cant intercept them, we could have then bombed them on
the ground. Then again might not have been a good idea in case it got
shot down by our own people. That type of thing is bound to happen
in the heat of battle until we put a proper air defence system into
place with IFF recognition, i.e. not manually operated AA guns and
MANPAD's.
Reply
GoldenEagle October 26, 2007 at 10:19 PM

First of all, the Beech HISAR was not heavily involved in the sinking of
the LTTE cargo ships. The navy OPVs did that job. Remember that the
OPVs have maritime surveillance radars installed in them too. Besides
OPVs can travel deeper into the sea than Beech HISARs because they
have a much longer range. So now we have to protect these ships like
our lives depend on it.
hemantha
We have to wait before we start the Wanni offensive because
onquering territory can be easy compared to holding on to it. This is
what the Iraq war taught everyone. First we must solidify our grip in
the East, the best way to do that is start the rebuilding process,
create jobs there(very important) and win the trust and support of
the locals. If these things are accomplished the LTTE will find in
impossible to recapture the East. Remember we are still a 3rd world
country, our economy can't take much pusnishment, and the Wanni
offensive will seriously hamper economic growth, which we need to
make our country more properous. A more prosperous country means
we can buy much better weapons, training and facilities. My point is,
get the economy right and the rest will fall into place. Thats why the
LTTE wants to go after economic targets.
Don't worry, the Wanni offensive will come but not now, first WE MUST
GAIN FULL CONTROL OF THE SEAS and concentrate on better economic
growth. I think these two objectives can be accomplised in 2 years
time.
BTW, I don't think VP is investing too much the Hillary's presidency,
things have changed since 9/11. The republicans are eager to take
back control of the congress, what better way than jumping on your
opponent's mistake.
Reply

To gain full control on the seas we need more OPVs. After we gain full
control of the seas, the LTTE occupied Wanni will truly become
60/65
12/1/2016
isolated from the rest of the world. We are blessed to be an island

never forget that, its much easier to control what comes into a
country through seas than through land(land borders). See whats
happening in the US/Mexico border, Iraq/Iran border, Afghan/Pak
border? not pretty eh?
Remember, the main line of contact that the LTTE has with the
outside world is through the seas. Cut that line and the LTTE will
suffer. Then we can hammer into Wanni with a well prepared military
offensive that will crush the LTTE militarily.
The LTTE can be crushed militarily but the LTTE ideology will live on,
just the way the remnants of the Nazi ideology still surives to this
day.
Reply
Fazli Sameer October 27, 2007 at 3:01 PM

Israel is only a namesake democracy in the Middle East. They have
chosen to ignore so many UN Security Council Resolutions over the
past decades. They commit violent and inhuman acts of oppression
and aggresssion on innocent Palestinian women and children. They
have tens of thousands of Palestinians in prison in Israel without any
trial or recourse to justice and human rights. Anyone who supports
them must be one of them only
Reply

fazil sameer..it is not that simple.There is much more to this than
meets the eye.
Reply
TechnoGuy October 27, 2007 at 9:19 PM

Asia Broadcasting Corporation BANNED!
Read and discuss at the Lanka Media Online Blog.
> Lanka Media Online
> Lanka Media Forum
> Lanka Media Online Blog
Reply

"I understand that israel is a longtime supplier of weapons to SL,but
they are not our only weaponssuperstore!!."
Never said they were the only ones. But they (and Apartheid South
Africa) suported us in many ways whn others would not, especially in
the '80s and early '90s. When SL had no facilities for training airborne
troops, it was Israel and Pakistan that provided facilities. When India
started to cut off supply of prosthetics to crippled soldiers, it was
Israel that provided it. Lets not forget our old allies just because we
have new ones.
61/65
12/1/2016
"Adding to my previous comments,almost every israeliweapons deal is

riddled with corruption"
Don't be foolish Rifard. Are you saying that ONLY the Israeli deals are
corrupt? Israel sells weapons to many nations. If there's corruption, it
is because the buyers are corrupt.
"cunning
jewishmaximum
profit
malfunctioning on a regular basis.."
at
any
costi.e,weapons
Rifard you are letting your religious bigotry blind you. I could easily
say "Cunning Muslimmaximum profit..." and most Sri Lankans would
agree with me. As a minority I expected more from you. I am very
disappointed. I guess even the most intelligent have their bigotry.
"Israel is only a namesake democracy in the Middle East. They have
chosen to ignore so many UN Security Council Resolutions over the
past decades. "
Israel is the ONLY democracy in the ME. The others are all ruled by
despotic, corrupt, and oppressive royal families. Most SL Muslims just
blindly support anyone who's a Muslim, no matter how bad they are,
from Sadddam Hussein to Ghaddaffi to Idi Amin, as long as they are
Muslims they are ok, no?
Reply
Janaka De Silva November 11, 2007 at 10:18 PM

Just to put the record straight:
The impression given that 11th UAV Squadron has been 'decimated'
following the attack is bunkum.
How the hell do you think SLAF took TC so accurately with the jets if
not for aerial int from UAV's?
SLAF does not keep all its eggs in one basket. Not all the UAV's were
deployed at Anuradhapura. Anyway, Anuradhapura is not the home of
11 UAV Squadron anyway.
11 UAV Squadron was back on line in double quick time and will
continue to give a good account of itself in the days to come...
However, the LTTE attack did target vital int gathering assets i.e. UAV
and Beachcraft as these are the thorn in the LTTE flesh.
The Mi17 was too big a target to miss at close range while the Mi24's
out in the open rivertment were a bonus.
Some of the PT6's were ignored and a few suffered damage due to
heat inside the hanger when the Mi17 and Jet Ranger blewup. 1FTW
is back in business again...
Therefore, it is safe to assume that the LTTE thistimearound
targeted the SLAF int gathering assets while the July 24 2001 attack
on Katunayake targeted the attack jets.
62/65
12/1/2016
While everyone(including SLAF top brass) were concentrating on the

fastbirds (jets aka Kfir's and Migs) what one would call the 'shooters'
ignoring the vital importance of the 'sensors'; the UAV's and
Beachcraft, their importance was not lost to the enemy.
Reply

Aslam:
"PT6 is not a Jet Trainer. These were used in 80s and early 90s to fight
against LTTE and now attached to the pilot training unit over there in
Anuradhapura Air Force base".
Wrong mate. PT6's sure are not jet trainers i.e. K8's as our infamous
'defence analysts/consultant/expert and whatever..' Iqbal Biggles
Athas kept trying to depict and posit in two consecutive ST Situation
Reports that several K8's were destroyed in the hangar while showing
a pic of a PT6. So much for his expertise...
The PT6 entered service with SLAF in 2000 as a basic trainer to
replace the Cessna 150's which was the basic trainer for many
decades. While they can be armed, they never saw comat in the
'80/'90's....
Reply

David:
You (or anyone else for that matter) could not have said it any
better...
The SLAF security detail isn't there to kill Tigers after they've blown
up the planes, they're to STOP the the planes being blown up. So
patting them on the back because the Tigers are dead isn't very
useful. The planes are gone. The Tigers exchanged 21 Black Tigers for
8 aircraft; all we did was close the deal.
That's ANP (and KAT) in a nutshell.
To learn from defeat you must first admit its a defeat, and then take
it apart and analyse it, not stick your head in the sand and pretend
it's some sort of victory.
We are still in the stick your head in the sand mode, unfortunately,
and the top brass are doing their bit to come out of it smellingof
roses.
Reply
nemesis November 11, 2007 at 11:14 PM

Janaka De Silva,
i agree about "Defense Analyst" athas ;)
any kid can say the K8 and PT6s apart.
63/65
12/1/2016
"While they can be armed, they never saw combat in the '80/'90's"
I assume you are referring to the PT6? I thought they were unarmed?
The Chinese had only made a few armed prototypes didnt they? Does
the PT6 have hard points? Or do they have MGs in the wigs or wing
roots like the good ol days??
Reply
nemesis November 11, 2007 at 11:26 PM

Janaka De Silva,
BTW i would like to invite you to another blog:
http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2006/9/8415.html
I think you can make a valuable contribution there too.
thanks and may the triple jem and all the gods bless you guys in
service...
good hunting
Reply
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DefenceNet: Defence News from Sri Lanka

Anuradhapura Airbase Attack : The Aftermath

This blog is dedicated to discussing

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and ammunitions to Anuradhapura is another question that is bugging

Although there undoubtedly were many lapses and weaknesses in the

Sri Lanka Guardian

The Blacklight Arrow

Posted by DefenceNet at 11:51:00 PM

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October 24, 2007 at 12:06 AM

Jonathan October 24, 2007 at 1:07 AM

Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 1:11 AM

Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 1:33 AM

Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 1:37 AM

October 24, 2007 at 1:50 AM

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Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 2:09 AM

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Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 2:13 AM

Sam Perera October 24, 2007 at 2:25 AM

Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 2:46 AM

LTTE raid targets

GoldenEagle October 24, 2007 at 2:48 AM

Apart from the beefed up security personnel in our bases, we also

1) Security cameras installed through out the bases.

2) Guard dogs to alert the security of suspicious people approaching

Srilankan October 24, 2007 at 3:02 AM

Ares October 24, 2007 at 3:31 AM

Ninja Bandara October 24, 2007 at 3:50 AM

Ares October 24, 2007 at 4:24 AM

Sam Perera October 24, 2007 at 4:39 AM

tikira October 24, 2007 at 4:39 AM

tikira October 24, 2007 at 5:03 AM

Navindran October 24, 2007 at 5:44 AM

GoldenEagle October 24, 2007 at 5:50 AM

Sam Perera October 24, 2007 at 5:53 AM

2) We defend our perimeters while preparing for attacks that can

jiffy October 24, 2007 at 6:14 AM

Ninja Bandara October 24, 2007 at 6:42 AM

Sam Perera October 24, 2007 at 7:24 AM

Sam Perera October 24, 2007 at 7:34 AM

GoldenEagle October 24, 2007 at 7:46 AM

Sam Perera October 24, 2007 at 8:10 AM

Kun October 24, 2007 at 8:57 AM

Kun October 24, 2007 at 9:05 AM

GoldenEagle October 24, 2007 at 9:53 AM

"Aircraft were detected: Colombo

TamilNet quoting the LTTE reported, Two Lieutenant Colonels, six

Ranil October 24, 2007 at 9:58 AM

Puffy October 24, 2007 at 10:07 AM

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Rif October 24, 2007 at 10:19 AM

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Ranil October 24, 2007 at 10:55 AM

Aslam October 24, 2007 at 10:56 AM

perein October 24, 2007 at 11:08 AM

Jack Point October 24, 2007 at 11:19 AM