- LTTE target Indian radar system
- Security forces down LTTE aircraft
-WATCH VIDEIO
by Special Correspondent
(September 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Vavuniya town, which had been in peaceful slumber, was suddenly jolted awake by a barrage of gunfire around 2.50 in the morning on September 9. The gunfire came from the direction of the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters in Lavonia and the Air force base. As time went by, the sound of loud explosions also shook the town.
The LTTE light aircraft, which had last carried out a bombing raid on the Eastern Naval Headquarters in Trincomalee on August 26, also became airborne during this battle in Vavuniya.
The eastern boundary of the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters in Vavuniya ends in dense jungle close to a few Tamil villages. The Black Tiger suicide cadres had gained entry to the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters by cutting through the barbed wire fence at the end of this boundary.
This group was first spotted by a soldier from the Special Forces. He grew suspicious of a Black Tiger cadre who spoke to him in Sinhala and started shooting. This episode quickly spiraled into a full scale gun battle.
The location which the LTTE suicide cadres had picked to enter the base ran across the location where a group of Special Forces personnel were camped. This worked against the Tiger unit.
However, by that time the Black Tiger team had already entered the base and started firing. At the same time they had used satellite phones and GPS technology to pin-point their artillery attacks on the base.
The explosions and gunfire which was coming from the Vavuniya base then grew louder and louder as the artillery shells started to fall. The LTTE started raining 130mm artillery shells onto the Vauniya Airbase, the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters, and the Police Superintendent’s Office Complex. These artillery guns had been moved to the uncleared area in Puliyankulam east, the previous night.
The Special Forces personnel who were engaging the LTTE cadres found it difficult to identify them clearly as they were wearing uniforms which were similar to that of the army. While the artillery attack was taking place, the Tiger suicide team started moving towards their target.
As the Special Forces personnel engaged the LTTE Black Tiger unit, the multi barrel rocket launcher and artillery guns situated at the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters started firing at the LTTE artillery gun positions.
About 40 minutes into the battle, the Indra II radar system in Vavuniya had detected an enemy aircraft becoming airborne from an uncleared area. The officers at the radar station, after positively identifying it as an LTTE light aircraft immediately notified the Air force headquarters and the Operations Room at Katunayaka.
By this time, the Black Tiger team had also started directing their attack at the Indian radar centre located inside the Vavuniya Air Force Base.
Though there were heavy weapons, ammunition dumps, and other targets located inside the Wanni Joint Operations Headquarters, the LTTE team was focused on attacking the radar system. Meanwhile, orders were issued to activate the air defence system inside the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters and air force base, after communications regarding the situation with the battle came in.
As the gunfire got heavier, and as artillery shells started to fall on the air base, officers manning the radar station inside the base noticed a second light aircraft becoming airborne around 3.35 am. This was revealed by Squadron Leader Sanjaya Adikari, who was at the Operations Room in Katunayaka at the time of the attack, and who is also a pilot himself, when he attended a press conference held on the same day in Colombo.
This time, the LTTE aircraft had become airborne from the direction of Iranamadu and Pudukuduirippu. Two Tiger airstrips are known to be located in these areas.
As the aircraft flew down from Mullaithivu, air force officers quickly realised that they were flying towards the radar station in Vavuniya. This prompted Air Force Commander Air Marshal Roshan Gunathilaka to order the air defence system activated.
While all this was going on, the Black Tiger team had started firing RPGs at locations where they thought their targets lay. However, when confronted by the Special Forces personnel, some Tiger cadres had blown themselves up before being able to reach their targets.
In addition to casualties in the exchange of fire, some soldiers were also killed by LTTE artillery fire.
The LTTE light aircraft dropped four bombs on the Security Forces Headquarters in Vavuniya and the air force base. According to Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, only one of these bombs had exploded. He told the media that the other three bombs had failed to explode. Nevertheless, the LTTE aircraft were compelled to drop their bombs off target as a result of the anti-aircraft fire, and fly towards the Wanni. The Zlin Z-143 light aircraft of the LTTE again flew towards the Iranamadu and Pudukuduirippu areas. Three F-7 aircraft of the air force had also become airborne from the Katunayaka Air Force Base. The air force says that they were able to corner one of the LTTE light aircraft in the skies over as their aircraft were superior in speed to those of the tigers.
One Tiger aircraft had landed at the Iranamadu airstrip, while the other had attempted to land at the Pudukuduirippu airstrip. Air force spokesman, Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said that the pilot of an F-7 aircraft was able to attack this aircraft as it attempted to land.
Pilot and Squadron Leader Sanjaya Adikari stated at a news conference in Colombo that the Tiger aircraft was shot down by an air-to-air missile fired from the F-7 at a location to the south of Mullaithivu town. However, he did not say whether it was he who had piloted the air force jet.
Squadron Leader Sanjaya Adikari stated that the LTTE aircraft had been shot down at around 3.55 am. However, the tamilnet website stated that both Tiger aircraft had safely returned to the Wanni.
The lack of photographic and video evidence on the shooting down of the aircraft has raised questions. But the pilot of the F-7 aircraft had communicated with senior air force officers that after the Tiger aircraft had been identified as the enemy aircraft, he had released the missile, and that the Tiger aircraft had exploded and had disappeared from the radar screen.
Even after the air force had hit their targets, MIG 27 and Kfir aircraft had attacked the Tiger airstrips at Iranamadu and Pudukuduirippu. Tamilnet had reported that those attacks had hit near a school close to Pudukuduirippu town.
Even though air force operations in the air had finished, the battle on the ground lasted till around 5.40 am. The ground battle between the Black Tigers and the army had lasted close to three hours.
According to the army, the LTTE had fired around 75 artillery rounds at the army and air force bases. Over 50 of these rounds had fallen inside the base. The rest had fallen on a few nearby villages.
Tamilnet quoted the LTTE as saying that they had fired 120 artillery rounds at the base. Tamilnet also states that a tiger leader going by the name of Lt.Col. ‘Kittu’ had led the artillery attack.
However, the army reports that their multi-barrel and artillery attacks had destroyed one of the LTTE’s artillery guns which had fired on the base. Army sources say that this was confirmed through radio interceptions.
Even though 11 LTTE cadres who had participated in the attack had been killed, the LTTE continued to direct artillery fire at the Vavuniya airbase and Security Forces Headquarters.
According to reports from the army, 12 soldiers, 2 policemen and a civilian had been killed in the fighting, and 28 others had been wounded.
Two Indian air force officers who were serving in the Vavuniya radar station had been wounded in the attack. These two officers were immediately transported by air to Colombo and admitted to a leading private hospital. However, the government denies that Indian air force officers are serving at the Vavuniya radar station.
Soldiers and policemen who were wounded in the fighting were admitted to the Anuradhapura Hospital. One police officer later succumbed to injuries.
The government announced that the radar station at the Vavuniya air force base had been the target. According to reliable sources, the attack caused considerable damage to the Vavuniya radar station. Sources said that some equipment had been moved from the Katunayaka radar station to Vavuniya as a temporary measure in order to continue with surveillence. However, government military spokesmen made no mention of the damage caused to the radar station.
Therefore it is not possible to independently verify this information. The LTTE launched an artillery attack from the uncleared areas towards military bases in Vavuniya at around 7.30am. This prompted daily life in Vavuniya to come to a standstill, and led to the temporary closure of the Vavuniya-Medawachchiya and Vavuniya-Mannar roads.
Even as the sun began to rise, army and police teams conducted special search operations around Vavuniya. Soldiers were able to identify a house in a village called “Samanlankulam”, where the black tiger team had been staying. They had been disguised as civilians, and had been operating from that house for two days before the attack. The Black Tiger team had been cooking their meals and had been staying at this house for two days, after forcibly evicting the residents of the house.
The army has recovered an assortment of military hardware from the dead Tiger cadres. These include specialised weapons, GPS equipment, Maps, and satellite phones.
If not for the efforts of the Special Forces personnel under Wanni Security Forces Commander, Major General Jagath Jayasuriya, at the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters, there could have been far more deaths and damages in this attack.- Sri Lanka Guardian
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