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Pakistan Assists Sri Lanka In War Against Tigers


Monday, 20 October 2008 03:16

A Sri Lankan defence delegation led by the Secretary Defence of Sri Lanka Gotabhaya Rajapakse will be arriving on Tuesday on a five day official visit to Pakistan.

According to details during their stay in Pakistan the delegation will hold meetings with Secretary Defence Kamran Rasool, Secretary Defence Production Lt. General Shahid Siddiq Tirmizey and other senior military and defence officials of Pakistan.

The delegation will also visit the Defence Industry of Pakistan. The visit of Sri Lankan defence delegation to Pakistan will further reinforce and expand bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
 
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good infact great that all LTTE defenses are being smashed , they are a terrorist organization and if PAK is assisting the Lankans is eliminating them then good for them.
 
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they are a terrorist organization and if PAK is assisting the Lankans is eliminating them then good for them.

all this kind of org dangrus for our riegunal peace
 
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good infact great that all LTTE defenses are being smashed , they are a terrorist organization and if PAK is assisting the Lankans is eliminating them then good for them.

Its not that simple as Indian Govt found out in 1984. I see everyday news headlines showing 50 LTTE were killed and only one soldier recvd minor wounds but still no sign of the catching of the LTTE chief. Most of the news seem to Srilankan Govt. Propoganda

Regards
 
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At least Sri Lanka has taken a firm stand and decided to root out LTTE from it's core . I hope they continue to pound them and don't look for so called political solutions.
 
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'Save Prabhakaran strategy' will back fire on Karunanidhi Says India's economic Times
(By: Walter Jayawardhana)

India's influential Economic Times said that Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi's resignation drama intended for utilizing New Delhi's regional super power status to save the badly beleaguered , cornered and trapped LTTE chief Prabhakaran, which it said was an election gimmick, would backfire on the seasoned politician.

Describing Karunanidhi's very serious compromising position The Economic Times said in its current issue (October 21) that, "The DMK's difficulty in taking any dire step stems from insufficient numbers in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly. To survive in power, the DMK with 96 MLAs needs the Congress support. It cannot afford to call a mid-term assembly polls on the Sri Lankan issue. "Karunanidhi's state government in Tamil Nadu survives with the help of the support of the Tamil Nadu's Congress Party which is headed by the Sonia Gandhi. The Economic Times said this compromising position has already tempered the position of Karunanidhi in relation to the Man Mohan Singh government in contrast to the earlier statement he had done and the Sri Lankan issue is not a strong enough reason to fight a mid term election in the state since as a political issue it has relatively lost its popularity in the midst of other issues like the power cuts the state is experiencing right now.

The following is the text of the item published in the Economic Times:

" The DMK has painted itself into a corner on the Sri Lankan issue. Having set the Centre a October 29 deadline to ensure a cease-fire between Sri Lankan armed forces and LTTE in that country, DMK could now experience a major crisis of credibility.

"Though it has threatened to get its MPs resign from Parliament over the Sri Lankan issue if the Centre does not sufficiently influence the situation in the neighbourhood by end-October, ground realities make this next to impossible. Mr Karunanidhi is already showing signs of tempering his position. He has welcomed a statement made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh where he called for a peaceful political settlement to the crisis in the island nation.

"The DMK's difficulty in taking any dire step stems from insufficient numbers in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly. To survive in power, the DMK with 96 MLAs needs the Congress support. It cannot afford to call a mid-term assembly polls on the Sri Lankan issue.

"Many political watchers are describing DMK's whipping up of the Sri Lankan issue as a diversionary tactic in view of the massive power cuts in the state. Many parts of Tamil Nadu, with the exception of Chennai, are experiencing eight hours power cut a day or more. Also, the Sri Lankan issue, which is brought up by Tamil parties regularly before elections, has a limited popular appeal as evidenced by the fact that these very parties forget it until the next round of polls.

"The Centre, for its part, is making all the right noises about concern for the welfare of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, who according to DMK and other Tamil parties are innocent victims of the attacks on LTTE. However, India's hands are tied on the question of any real intervention in Sri Lankan affairs.

"Sri Lanka has shown no signs of discontinuing with its current offensive against LTTE or reducing the intensity of the attacks. The statement made by Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to a TV channel that the LTTE is on the verge of defeat and therefore it is getting Indian politicians to pressure the Sri Lankan government to intervene, might complicate matters further for the Congress-led Centre.

"DMK's move to get its MPs from both Houses of Parliament (15 Lok Sabha and 4 Rajya Sabha) to hand over symbolic resignation letters to party chief M Karunanidhi looks set to fizzle out. When this happens, the Opposition ADMK will claim that it was justified in dubbing the resignation episode a fraud. ADMK chief Ms Jayalalithaa had dared chief minister Karunanidhi to step down and asked him to get all his MLAs to resign if he is really concerned about the condition of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka.

"Interestingly, it is only DMK which has stuck its neck out to meet the resolution of an all-party meeting in Chennai which had said all 40 Lok Sabha MPs, from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, would resign if India did not intervene to ensure cease-fire in Sri Lanka. The Congress, which also backed the resolution of the all-party meeting, clearly distanced itself from the resignation threat.

"We follow whatever is decided by the Indian National Congress. So far we have not offered our resignations," Congress spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Jayanti Natarajan said on Monday. PMK too has not taken any further steps on the resignation threat. As things stand, DMK stands to lose face on the Sri Lankan episode in the run-up to the coming Lok Sabha polls.

'Save Prabhakaran strategy' will back fire on Karunanidhi Says India's economic Times
 
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LTTE, Lankan troops locked in pitched battles
Wednesday, October 29, 2008


COLOMBO: Government forces and Tamil Tiger separatists fought pitched battles in the rain and mud in a ring of villages outside the rebel administrative capital in northern Sri Lanka, the military said on Tuesday.

The government has vowed to destroy the rebel group by the end of the year and has pushed deep into the rebels’ de facto state in the north in recent months. Several weeks ago, the military said it was just outside the rebel headquarters at Kilinochchi and was poised to seize the town from the rebels.

But monsoon rains, which began more than a week ago and are expected to last for months, have made the fighting more difficult and bogged down many of the military’s vehicles, said a military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

On Monday, heavy clashes raged throughout the day in three villages near Kilinochchi, the military said in a statement.

The military did not provide casualty details in line with a new government policy, but said troops inflicted heavy losses on the rebels.

Fighting also broke out on Monday in nearby Mullaitivu district, the military said. It is not possible to obtain independent accounts of clashes because most journalists are barred from the war zone. Rebel spokesmen could not be reached for comment because their communication lines have been severed.

Meanwhile, police said unidentified gunmen fatally shot four members of a pro-government militia in the volatile east on Monday night. A rebel-affiliated Web site said Tamil Tiger fighters were behind the attack.

The shooting took place at a political office of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal militia near the town of Batticaloa, said police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara. The militia broke away from the Tamil Tigers and has formed an alliance with the government.

Gunasekara said another five militia members were missing and police were investigating who was behind the attack.

The group was formed in 2004 when a former rebel commander defected from the Tamil Tigers with thousands of his men. The group helped the government push the rebels out of the east last year.

The Tamil Net Web site said “Tiger commandos’’ launched the attack on the ``paramilitary camp,’’ seizing weapons and destroying it. The Web site, citing rebel sources, said the rebels had kidnapped six militants.

The Tamil Tiger rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered marginalisation at the hands of successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese. The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people.

LTTE, Lankan troops locked in pitched battles
 
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Sri Lankan troops capture rebel town
Thursday, October 30, 2008


COLOMBO: Sri Lankan troops captured a small village in northern Sri Lanka on Wednesday, pushing ahead with their offensive against the Tamil Tigers hours after the rebel group launched a brazen airstrike on the capital, the military said.

Soldiers fought for hours with the insurgents before taking control of the town and cutting off yet another small part of the rebels’ de facto state in the north, military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said.

He said the rebels have retreated due to the resistance of the army.’’

Also on Wednesday, soldiers took control of a reservoir in the rebel headquarters of Kilinochchi, after weeks of fighting, said Nanayakkara, without giving details of casualties.

The government, which has pushed deep into the Tamil Tigers’ heartland, has vowed to destroy the rebel group by the end of the year and win the civil war that has plagued this Indian Ocean island nation for more than two decades.

However, the rebels have repeatedly shown they retain the capacity to carry out startling attacks on the government.

Late on Tuesday, the Tamil Tigers’ rudimentary air force bombed a power station on the outskirts of Colombo. The military raked the sky over the capital with anti-aircraft fire and scanned the skies with searchlights.

The attack marked the first time rebel planes bombed the capital in more than a year.

The bombing damaged some turbines at the power station, officials said. A worker hospitalized after the attack died on Wednesday, said Nanayakkara.

The military, embarrassed by the bombing runs by the rebels’ tiny fleet of small planes, said it was searching for the attacking aircraft, which apparently escaped back into rebel-held area after the attack. ``We are of course targeting the locations where they are having their aircraft, and at the same time, whenever they are airborne ...we send our aircraft to engage,’’ Nanayakkara said.

The attack began late Tuesday when rebel aircraft dropped three bombs on an army base in the Mannar district in the north, injuring three soldiers, the military said. About an hour later, aircraft struck the power station in Colombo, far to the south of the initial strike.

It was also not clear if the plane that attacked Colombo was the same aircraft that attacked Mannar or if there were two planes, Nanayakkara said.

Such attacks are a huge morale boost for the reeling rebels.

The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent state for minority Tamils, who have suffered marginalization at the hands of successive governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people.

Sri Lankan troops capture rebel town
 
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Lankan troops seize major LTTE defence line
Friday, October 31, 2008

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan troops seized a major Tamil Tiger rebel defence line on the north-western coast after nearly two weeks of intense fighting, the military said on Thursday.

Soldiers fought intense gun battles before capturing the rebel fortifications in Nachchikuda, a rebel coastal stronghold, on Wednesday evening, the Defence Ministry said.

Fighting has escalated in recent months in the 25-year-old civil war as the military has captured a series of rebel bases and large chunks of territory in the north. Officials have pledged to crush the guerrillas by the end of the year. The military says it has closed in on the rebels’ de facto capital of Kilinochchi.

In the latest battle, army troops “launched a multi-pronged offensive and marched toward Nachchikuda from three directions, destroying and capturing vital’’ rebel positions, the ministry said in a statement. The rebels “have withdrawn from the area as the security forces intensified their military thrust,’’ it said.

The military did not provide casualty details, in line with a new government policy, but said its troops inflicted “heavy casualties’’ on the rebels.

Also on Wednesday, soldiers took control of Jayapuram, a rebel-held village in Kilinochchi.

The military successes came a day after the rebels’ rudimentary air force bombed a power station on the outskirts of the capital and an army base in the north, injuring three soldiers.

The bombings, which showed that the rebels retain the ability tocarry out startling attacks on the government, were a huge morale boost for the reeling guerrillas and an embarrassment for the military.

With reporters banned from the war zone, the media must depend on government and rebel statements for most information about the war.

It is difficult to contact rebel officials for comment because most communication lines to their territory have been severed. The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered marginalisation at the hands of successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Lankan troops seize major LTTE defence line
 
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LTTE's backbone broken


The capture of Pooneryn by the Security Forces was hailed by key Tamil political figures saying that it was somewhat like breaking the backbone of the LTTE.

Praising the bold efforts of the Security Forces in taking control of Pooneryn, Jaffna District Parliamentarian and the Eelam People's Democratic Party leader Douglas Devananda said that the capture of Pooneryn was a great victory in establishing peace in the north."

I would say that by capturing Pooneryn the LTTE's backbone has been broken. The outfit was using the area as a strategic spot to launch attacks by sea and land into the Jaffna Peninsula. However, with the fall of Pooneryn to the Security Forces a new pathway is now open to link the north and south via the north western region.

I believe the capture of Pooneryn will also lead to the overall capture of Kilinochchi and the A-9 highway very soon," Devananda said.

The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal leader and Parliamentarian Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan commended the immense hard work of the Armed Forces in taking control of Pooneryn. "The capture of Pooneryn will lead towards a new avenue in creating peace in the north and defeating the LTTE in the Wanni. I appreciate the wisdom and precise planning of the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka in overpowering the LTTE in Pooneryn.

The new route via Pooneryn to Jaffna will give the people in the Peninsula to interact more closely with the outside world," Karuna said. The PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Sitharthan said that the fall of Pooneryn to the Security Forces was significant in the fight against the LTTE."

The capture of Pooneryn has closed the sea and land access routes used by the LTTE into the Peninsula. I believe that the capture of Pooneryn would be a big boost for the Security Forces in marching towards Kilinochchi," Sitharthan said.

LTTE's backbone broken
 
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50 killed as Sri Lanka squeezes Tiger territory
* Troops capture 5-kilometre-long fortified bunker line from rebels

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s government said Thursday its troops have smashed through a key Tamil Tiger defence line in the far north of the island, putting fresh pressure on the rebels’ shrinking jungle mini-state.

Troops killed at least 50 Tamil Tiger rebels in a four-day battle for a bottleneck on the Jaffna Peninsula where both sides have been in a standoff for years, the military said on Thursday. Ten soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in the battle for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) forward defence line at Muhumalai, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. “Intercepted Tiger communications says about 50 terrorists were killed in the past four days,” Nanayakkara said.

Bunker line: Government troops took a near five-kilometre long fortified bunker line from the rebels, the defence ministry said. “In a continuous military thrust launched by 53 and 55 Divisions, terrorists were unable to defend their defence line,” the statement said, adding that Tigers suffered “scores” of losses while troops “minimised” their casualties.

The Tigers are known to maintain fall-back positions, but the collapse of the defences adds to the pressure they have been facing on other fronts, including around their political capital of Kilinochchi and coastal base of Mullaitivu. “The army shifted its mode of operations from active defence to all out offence in the northern theatre on Saturday (Nov 15) by running at the LTTE’s forward defence lines” on the Jaffna peninsula, the defence ministry said.

Jaffna is controlled by the government, but cut off from the rest of government-held territory by the LTTE - a rebel outfit battling to carve out a separate state in the north and east of the ethnic Sinhalese-majority island. Sri Lankan authorities, who pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels at the start of the year, have been on the march from the south for several months. The defence ministry said troops from Jaffna were now “heading further southwards.” Sri Lankan authorities have restricted access to the embattled areas for journalists as well as for most aid workers, meaning that claims by either side in the decades-old conflict are frequently impossible to independently verify. There was no immediate comment from the Tigers on the latest military statement. Reports on the humanitarian situation in the north, meanwhile, were dire.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said Sri Lanka was unable to provide for the basic needs of 300,000 people trapped inside rebel-held areas of the island’s north and accused Tiger guerrillas of using them as human shields. The London-based rights watchdog said two thirds of people living in the rebel-controlled northern area of Wanni have been driven out of their homes in the ongoing wave of fighting. “More than 300,000 people face the next few months crowded together in temporary shelters, surrounded by mud, with no promise of regular access to food or adequate sanitation,” Amnesty’s Asia Pacific Director Sam Zarifi said. agencies

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
 
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Army lays siege to Kilinochchi; LTTE defences fast falling apart

Sri Lanka Army offensive divisions in the Wanni theatre of operations are now marching towards the Kilinochchi built up in three frontiers, defence sources in the battlefield said. Army Task Force 1 and 57 Division have launched attacks at the LTTE held earth bund built around Kilinochchi outskirts.

According to the latest reports from the battlefront, pitched battles are going on in the North of Adampan, South of Adampan and Therumurikandi areas since early this morning (Nov 23).

Army Task Force 1 launched a predawn offensive targeting LTTE defence in the North of Admapan area. Infantrymen of 17 Gamunu Watch (17 GW), 12 Gajaba Regiment (12 GR), and 8 Sinha Regiment (8 SR) have been able to capture LTTE strongholds on the earth bund at three locations after crushing stiff resistance. Troops are now consolidating their positions. Intercepted radio transmissions have confirmed heavy damages to the terrorists during these clashes.

Meanwhile, Army 57 division troops are now fighting the terrorists in the vicinity of the LTTE held earth bund in the Admapan area. According to the sources, LTTE defence in the area are fast falling apart. Troops of 12 SR, and 9 GR are engaged in the battle.

In the North of Kokavil area , troops of 8 Sri Lanka Light Infantry (8 SLLI), and 10 SLLI are now advancing towards the A-9 road . The latest reports from the front reveal that troops are fighting in close proximity to the LTTE held earth bund built across the A-9 road in the Therumurikandi area. Also, reports add that the terrorist have taken to their heels in the face of army advance.

Army lays siege to Kilinochchi; LTTE defences fast falling apart
 
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Sri Lanka captures town from rebels after 18 years

* Pro-rebel website says three including child killed in attack

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan troops captured a town held by Tamil Tiger rebels for 18 years, after monsoon rains eased and soldiers resumed an advance on the separatists’ self-declared capital, the military said on Monday.

Troops took Kokavil on Sunday after heavy clashes along the road that leads to Kilinochchi, the town the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam’s (LLTE) have set up as the seat of the separate state they want to create for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority. “We have taken over Kokavil town which is located along the A9 highway,” military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

He gave no details of casualties. Kokavil is about 20 kilometres south of Kilinochchi, in the northern jungles of the Indian Ocean island. The LTTE could not be reached for comment. Independent confirmation is all but impossible since both sides limit media access to the war zone. The military since September has been converging on Kilinochchi. Last week, the military said its fall was imminent with units moving in from three directions. The next day, it said monsoon flooding had slowed combat operations to a crawl. “It is still raining but the flooding in certain areas had subsided,” Nanayakkara said. Over the weekend, the air force said it bombed rebel positions in support of troop advances.

Casualties: The pro-rebel web site TamilNet said one attack had killed three people, including a child, who had fled fighting. The report quoted eyewitnesses TamilNet did not name. Kilinochchi is a strategic target for a government that has made the most military progress of any in one of Asia’s longest modern insurgencies, and a symbol of the separate state the LTTE has been fighting since 1983 to establish. Aid agencies estimate 230,000 people are displaced by the war, and diplomats say they are trapped between rebels who won’t let them leave and soldiers they do not trust for safe passage. reuters

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
 
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Pro-LTTE elements predict imminent fall of elephant pass and Mullaittivu
(By: Walter Jayawardhana)

Pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) websites and their proxy politicians have openly expressed fears that they would lose Elephant Pass immediately and their main seaport Mullaittivu and other places of control eventually.

Shivaji Lingam, member of the 22 parliamentarians strong Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the proxy party of the LTTE, from Chennai said, "And even if the LTTE were to lose Mullaittivu also, then too they will continue their struggle."

The pro- Tamil website, Cyber News said, "The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have begun withdrawing from entrenched positions in the strategic Elephant Pass region. The narrow Isthmus that links the Jaffna peninsula to the Northern mainland known as Wanni by land is often described as the "gateway to Jaffna".

Preparations are also afoot to vacate tiger positions in other key places in Eastern Wanni like Mullaittivu, Oddusuddan ,Muhamalai, Kilaly and Vatraappalai.

Apparently soldiers are now about 2 km to the south of Elephant Pass and are near Kurinchatheevu adjacent to Elephant Pass. Realising that Elephant Pass is not defendable the LTTE have begun vacating the area, the sources say.

Battlefield reports say that the Sri Lanka Army soldiers are about two kilometers South of Elephant Pass. According to LTTE sources realizing the Elephant Pass is no longer defensible the terrorists are slowly vacating the place. It is not clear whether they would put up some resistance or simply vacate the area, the sources said.

The terrorists escaping from Elephant Pass, Mullaittivu, Oddusudan and Vatraappalai are expected to hide in heavily entrenched fortified bunkers in the jungles of Mullaittivu poised for hit and run terrorist attacks both against the civilians and the government security forces.

Addressing the nation Army Commander Sarath Fonseka said after the fall of Kilinochchi, "We are confident that we can see the end of them withing this year. We don't need even a year to see their end." He said the area the LTTE leadership and cadres are hiding is like the terrain of Thoppigala in the Eastern Province, which the security forces overran.

Analysts have said there is an estimated number of 1700 to 1900 LTTE cadres remaining alive to do whatever kind of warfare they adopt.

Even if they adopt hit and run attacks on the civilians and security personnel in the future it would be nothing very much different from what they practiced together with conventional warfare. The United national Party has accused the government of pushing them to what they call guerilla warfare. But other sources say the government did not push them to anything but to their eventual demise.

Pro-LTTE elements predict imminent fall of elephant pass and Mullaittivu
 
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