The truth about Vavuniya attack

(September 10, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When it comes to suicide attacks, LTTE's Black tigers rarely disappoint the organization. Today was one of those rare days on which LTTE's primary weapon disappointed its leadership. 10 Black Tigers (5 male and 5 female) were mercilessly gunned down by elite troops deployed at Wanni Security Forces HQ while they attempted to beach the installation's defenses under the cover of the night.

For the first time in the history of the Eelam War, tigers launched a combined attack using their ground units, Mortar regiment and air tigers on the Wanni SF HQ. The black tigers were tasked with the destruction of Indian made Indra-2 radar installation while the mortar regiment and the air tigers kept SLA personnel 'busy'. The flaw in this seemingly brilliant plan was that the tigers did not know SLA intelligence units had warned the base of similar attacks (in fact of a series of possible attacks) beforehand. Therefore the security had been tightened and elite troops had been deployed in the Wanni SF HQ.

10 members of LTTE's 'Black Tiger Commandos" were annihilated 200m from their target by a group of Special Forces soldiers deployed at the base. The SF unit hunted the hunters to perfection and did not suffer any casualties in the process. Although the Tamilnet front page proudly displays a group photograph of Black tigers, it was LTTE's mortar regiment and the air attack that did actual damage to the base premises and radar installation. The LTTE fired more than 60 artillery rounds which fell in and around base premises. In addition to these, two LTTE aircraft dropped two gravity bombs each weighting around 25KG. Speaking of damages, the Indra 2D radar installation sustained minor damages after being hit by shrapnel from exploded artillery shell or a gravity bomb. Several other structured in the base have also been slightly damaged due to artillery fire. 10 SLA soldiers have been killed and around 30 more security personnel have been injured. All of the injuries are due to artillery fire. The damage is nothing catastrophic as pro LTTE media claim.

It is believed that around 20 LTTE cadres had managed to infiltrate the FDL and stealthily move near the SF HQ. 10 of these were suicide cadres and the rest played support roles such as artillery spotting. SLA has recovered 11 bodies of LTTE fighters, including the bodies of all 10 suicide cadres. The rest may have escaped.

The other setback LTTE suffered in this attack came when one of their light aircraft was shot down over Mullaithiv skies. One recently acquired F-7G fighters managed to score SLAF's first air to air kill at around 3.50AM today when it shot the LTTE plane down. According to F-7 pilot and 59 division soldiers deployed on Mullaithivu frontline, the Zlin crashed into dense jungles south of Mullaithivu after being hit.

Despite the interception, one worrying factor that the SLA/SLAF should immediately address, remains. This is the ineffectiveness of ground based anti aircraft guns. LTTE aircraft managed to evade AA fire from the ground yet again and would have safely returned to Wanni had it not been for the interception by the F-7. SLAF cannot afford to allow the Zlins to deliver their payload as there is the remote possibility of LTTE aircraft accurately bombing the target unlike in previous attempts.(DN)
- Sri Lanka Guardian