Daily Archives: March 30, 2007
LTTE’s toy submarines and coordinated patrolling with SL Navy
By Walter Jayawardhana
INDIAN NAVY OFFICER TALKS ABOUT LTTE’S TOY SUBMARINES AND CORDINATED PATROLS WITH SRI LANKA NAVY
Assistant Chief of Indian Naval Staff Rear Admiral Pradeep Chauhan called the reported submarines of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as ’toy submarines’ and dismissed the suggestion that they could do any harm to the Indian Navy.
When reporters asked him whether there was any threat from those LTTE submersible vehicles he totally rejected any underwater threat from the Sri Lankan terrorist group and referring to the terrorist groups’ reported attempt to make a submarine said, “You cannot develop submarines from do it yourself manuals.”
He was obviously referring to the LTTE supporters trying to buy submarine manufacturing software last year in the United States before they got caught in a sting operation. During the sting operation perhaps the most intriguing item sought was advanced submarine design software. The LTTE has always had a strong penchant for seafaring activities. Submarines would allow them to expand their smuggling efforts and be a new mode of terror attack, it has been visualized, reportedly.
The Tamil Tiger midget submarines have been described as just slightly submersible only few feet under the surface of the water and extremely slow moving. The senior Naval official did not show any sort of respect for the kind of submersible crude vehicles the LTTE was manufacturing and are called “midget submarines.” He said, “With toy subs you can go for a kilometre and see coral reefs. Nothing else is possible unless they are going to war with sea urchins.”
Rear Admiral Chauhan said the Indian navy couls easily frustrate any LTTE attempt to attack its ships. But the LTTE’s attempt is not to employ the crude submarines as attack vehicles but to use them as vehicles to transport weapons and narcotics drugs without being seen by any watchful eyes in the sea.
At a press briefing in New Delhi Chauhan also mentioned about the kind of patrols the Indian Navy is going to do with the Sri lankan Navy and said they are not going to be joint patrols but coordinated patrols. In this kind of patroling both navies will patrol in their own waters but will cordinate and communicate each other regarding informations. But they would not be patroling together, he said. But in the Indian waters the Indian navy would do joint patrolling with the Indian Coast Guard, Chauhan said.
Such coordinated patrolling has been necessitated by the constant and illegal smuggling activities conducted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of weapons, warlike material and drugs during the last many months.
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LTTE mortar fire kills 8 and injures 18 civilians in two villages
By Walter Jayawardhana
EIGHT CIVILIANS WERE KILLED AND EIGHTEEN OTHER CIVILIANS INJURED BY LTTE MORTAR FIRE FROM THOPPIGALA
In an obvious attempt to create panic and confusion and make civilian run leaving their settlements Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) targeted two villages in the Eastern Province and killed eight people including two young children and injuring 18 other civilians the Sri Lanka Army sources said.
The civilians were killed in Morakottanchena and Karadiyanaru villages during the night of of March 29 by mortar fire allegedly originating from the LTTE positions in Thoppigala area.
“They have fired at two villages. Only in the morning we have entered the area and we found eight people killed, including a 1-1/2-year-old and 7-year-old, both of them girls,” said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe.
After the Tamil Tigers were evicted from about 230 square mile area in recent months some of them have regrouped in the jungle strip of Thoppigala East of the Batticaloa town and creating the mayhem, Samarasinghe said.
In retaliation the Sri Lanka security forces have surrounded the Thoppigala area to choke the Tamil Tigers of supplies and preventing them from leaving or entering the area.
The mortar fire that started about 7.30 p.m. on March 29 also hit Sittandi and Sandiliveli villages. The villagers told the army that they were just getting ready to sleep after supper when mortar shells started hitting their houses.
The Sri lanka Army said they have already informed about the attack on the civilians by the LTTE to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.
The Sri Lanka Army sources said closeby army detachments have transported 18 civilians who were injured by the alleged mortar fire by the LTTE.
Among the injured were three little children including an infant of 18 months. All are undergoing treatment at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.
Earlier the alleged LTTE mortar fire was directed to Padawiya and Ethavetunu Wewa villages.
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“India can learn from us,” says Sangakkara
Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Kumara Sangakkara has told India they can learn a lot about cricket, life and happiness from their island’s neighbours.
Sri Lanka beat India on their way to the World Cup second round Super Eights.
India, meanwhile, crashed out and went home to face the unrelenting fury of fans let down by a team many considered to be potential World Cup winners in the Caribbean.
“I feel sorry for India’s cricketers,” said Sangakkara.
“They’ll now face a torrent of criticism and abuse in the coming weeks. Fanatical fans will no doubt be burning effigies. The huge expectation places their players under enormous pressure. And when that expectation is raised a degree or two, it can easily have a crippling effect.
“In Sri Lanka, the public seems to have a more easy-going perspective. Most Sri Lankans are passionate about sport, especially cricket, but we also seem to understand that sport is sport.
“I am not sure whether that more balanced attitude is the product of two decades of civil war, or merely reflects the more happy-go-lucky style of an island nation.
“The attitude of our fans makes it easier for us. We still get our fair share of criticism. But our houses are not stoned when we lose and we can still walk down the street without fearing for our safety. I’m grateful for this and really don’t envy the situation of India and Pakistan’s top cricketers.”
Sangakkara admitted that the World Cup felt strange without India and Pakistan.
India also lost to Bangladesh in their group games while Pakistan suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of part-timers Ireland. They also lost to the West Indies.
“It leaves the tournament with a strange emptiness,” Sangakkara wrote in his http://www.cricinfo.com column.
“India’s unbelievable passion for the game always ensures an occasion whenever they take the field. One billion fans and a clutch of high-paying sponsors are naturally bitterly disappointed.”
Sangakkara believes that the pressure on India contributed to the demise of Rahul Dravid’s team who succumbed to a 69-run defeat to Sri Lanka in Trinidad, which confirmed their early exit.
“There was no doubt in our minds that we would win the game. We were completely focused,” said Sangakkara.
“The same cannot be said about India’s players. I thought our body language told the story. We were up for it, positive and very upbeat. India’s players looked under pressure and their body language betrayed their edginess.”
Source:The News
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LTTE aquired planes in 1998 – Janes Weekly report in 1998
From 1998 issue of JDW
Sri Lanka was buying Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) and radar systems, according to the issue of the military industry publication, Jane’s Defence Weekly in 1998. Reports that the Liberation Tigers have acquired an air capability “have forced the Sri Lanka government to hurriedly procure air-defence systems” said the JDW.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) “has called for tenders for surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), air-defence guns, short-range battlefield surveillance radars, mobile air-defence radars and thermal imagers” says JDW.
The JDW report by Iqbal Athas, a leading Sri Lankan defence correspondent, cites Sri Lankan military intelligence sources confirming that the Tigers as having acquired “a two-seater fixed wing aircraft and a small helicopter”
“We are yet to identify their make and origin though we suspect they were smuggled in in a knocked-down condition and assembled in the Wanni jungles” the sources told JDW.
The Liberation Tigers also announced at the end of November 1998 that aircraft of the ‘Air Tigers’ had taken part in this year’s Heroes’ Day celebrations.
A warning sent by the Sri Lankan Air Force’s Air Defence Command and Control Centre said pictures showed one of the aircraft to be similar to a US manufactured Robinson R44 Astro light helicopter, said JDW.
“Since the suspected aircraft is confirmed to be a helicopter which could fly at high altitudes, carrying, say, a payload of 200kg of explosives, dropping it in a selected area is a strong possibility,” the centre warned.
The centre also noted that “the possibility of attaching a medium calibre gun on the aircraft to fire on selected targets cannot be ruled out.”
Sri Lanka’s armed forces have no SAMs and rely for air defence on Bofors 40mm L/60 and L/70 guns, said JDW.
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TAMIL TIGERS ARE DEVELOPING A SUBMARINE FOR TERRORISM
By Walter Jayawardhana
TAMIL TIGERS ARE ALSO DEVELOPING A MINI SUBMARINE FOR GUN RUNNING, DRUG SMUGGLING AND PIRACY
The cocaine submarine was taken into custody with nearly three tons of cocaine in the early part of December 2006 90 nautical miles southwest of Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica, in international waters.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is fast developing a mini submarine for gun running and drug smuggling Sri Lankan and Indian intelligence services believe.
The evidence of crude submarines they are developing has already been found in recent finds in Thailand and other places, the reports indicate.
Some Indian naval authorities think they are developing a submersible craft to smuggle drugs and warlike materials unnoticed between the narrow straits between India and Sri Lanka and attack merchant vessels in the Indian ocean for purposes of piracy.
According to the information, it is the marine wing of the LTTE, called the Sea Tigers who are trying to develop a home made submarine for extending their activities of smugggling and piracy.
Indian news agencies have publishing stories that the terrorist group who are already possessing some propeller airplanes could soon be adding up submersible vehicles to their terrorist activities.
India’s zee.news website quoting an Indian naval officer reported, “To questions about the possibility of the LTTE acquiring a submarine and how big a threat this would pose to India and its neighbourhood, Rear Admiral Pradeep Chuahan said the threat would be as good or bad as threats posed by any terrorist group operating on land.”
The United States coast guard authorities were tight lipped regarding the incident after a number of Colombians with Rajakumar Rajadurai (52) a Sri Lankan Tamil were caught transporting 2.9 tons of cocaine into the United States originating from Bogota Colombia, the world’s biggest producer of cocaine in a crude home made submarine. The submarine was used to escape the intense surveillance of airplanes by US drug enforcement authorities. The accused were facing life imprisonment.
The large merchant navy owned by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is thought to be transporting drugs as a main income for the terrorist group.
The cocaine submarine was taken into custody with nearly three tons of cocaine in the early part of December 2006 90 nautical miles southwest of Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica, in international waters.
Earlier than this incident Thai authorities took into custody a crude unfinished submarine that was being built by the LTTE in that country.
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