Tiger air show as troops move forward

Two commercial flights diverted during raid

Troops 13 km away from Pooneryn

By Amantha Perera

It was a clear night bedecked with stars - gone were the dark clouds that had hung low over the city in recent weeks.  Colombo had been plunged into darkness and the peaceful quiet night had turned into yet another unnerving experience.

Over the brim of the buildings, the glow of the lights in areas just outside the city where the power was not cut off, appeared like a bad imitation of the polar lights. For those plunged into darkness the dancing lights made them feel like trapped in a dark abyss with something heavy and nasty waiting through the mouth at any time.

 Around 10.40 in the middle of the night of October 28, lights were switched off in Colombo, which could only mean one thing, the possibility of an air raid by the Tiger air wing.  Military detachments located within the city and along the strategically vital shoreline heading north of the harbour towards  Kerewalapitiya west of Wattala went on high alert.

Officers and soldiers manning the posts screamed instructions at each other and told civilians who were within the premises to stay indoors away from walls and glass windows  with desks and furniture as possible cover against flying shrapnel or debris. That night was not the first time these security detachments in the vital economic  zones had gone on alert, but the intensity of the security forces personnel gave away that there was something clearly urgent.  And there was.

Mannar Security Forces Headquarters

At around 10.20 that night, the Thallady Base in Mannar had been bombed by the Tiger aircrafts. The base, that functions as the Mannar Security Forces Headquarters is located at the edge of the mainland  just east of Mannar island. Government defence establishment said that three bombs were dropped within the camp, but had caused minimum damage.

The Tigers said that they had targeted the camp because it was where the multi-barrel pads were located.  Instead of turning north and heading to their bases, the aircrafts continued on their route south, over the sea and flying  low.

Some reports indicated that the Tiger crafts kept bobbing up down on radar screens and that the installations in Vavuniya had detected the flight heading into Mannar. Whichever the situation was, except for those who could sleep soundly despite the SMS and phone calls flying around, after 10.40 p.m, most of those in and around Colombo were aware that unwanted intruders were in the sky, along the western coast.

The Katunayake Airport went into blackout mode and the runway lights were turned off. The Tourist Board said that two commercial flights,  Cathay Pacific and Thai Airways heading into Colombo were diverted to Chennai as a precaution. They later arrived at Katunayake and departed.

The booms began

First it was small burst of fire in the distance, then just after 11 p.m, the booms began, tracer lights streaked into the air with anti aircraft gunfire. Search lights swirled around looking for the Zlin 143 Checz made propeller driven aircrafts. Grainy video uploaded by curious onlookers on Youtube showed the tracers flying up with the distant sound of anti-air craft fire. The unidentified voices in the background did not hide their anxiety and kept talking of fires, explosions, bombs and what vital installations may be under threat.

The buildings shook like in a cartoon and for a while Colombo felt as if it had been teleported right into a war zone where artillery was flying overhead by some deranged magician. This is how war feels like in real time, distant gunfire, vibrating explosions, too far to cause any harm, but close enough to jingle the nerves.

AAA batteries at important locations within Colombo along the shoreline like at the harbour and other installations opened up, to prevent the Tiger crafts from flying into the city centre. Some say that the fire was that intense that the crafts changed route and turned east just before Colombo, near the northern edges of the harbour.

Again whatever the truth is the Tiger crafts veered east north of Colombo and in all probability flew over the Kelani River, following its path.  Just after 11 p.m, the Kelanitissa power station came under attack. The time of the attack has been given as somewhere between 11 and 11.20 p.m.

Reached Colombo

The aircrafts flew away once again over the Kelani River which would have taken them easily above the western sea and from there took the return path retracing the route they reached Colombo.

There has been varying reports of how many crafts had taken part in the attacks. One said that two crafts came and only one proceeded to Colombo. However the likelihood of only a single craft flying all the way to Colombo is not very high and some of the radar stations had detected two blips on and off on their screens after the Thallady bombing. This has raised the possibility of Tigers using three crafts. The Tigers are believed to have as many as five Zlins, though there has never been any confirmation on the exact figure.

Two bombs were dropped over the Kelantissa plant, one exploded near where the turbines were housed but did not cause damages to the turbines, the other hit a building where a cooling plant was housed. The roof partially caved in and there was a minor fire that was put out by the fire brigade. The Tiger crafts have been modified to carry four home made gravity bombs,  according to pictures released and could have carried lesser number as well. The pay load has been assessed to be around 300 kg, with each carrying about 24 to 30 kg of explosives.

Technology and knowhow

The Tigers have shown over and over again that they use readily available technology and knowhow for their military operations. The flights use GPS locators, in fact the suicide craft that was recovered off Kankesanthurai two weeks back was also reportedly using one and using the contours of a river to fly is a method used by pilots world over. 

At least one pro-Tiger website reportedly uploaded a grainy video of small fire shot from air that it said was filmed by Tiger crafts flying over Colombo.  There was no indication on the pro-Tiger sites as to how many air crafts were involved other than indicating more than one was involved in the two raids.

As is the usual practice the details were more general in nature. The only additions was that the Tamilnet reported soon after the air raids that air force Mig and F-7 jets were seen flying over Mulaithivu and Puthukudyirruppu areas, some with search lights on, trying to locate the Tiger crafts. 

Interestingly Tamilnet carried a detailed account soon after the attacks that said that the aircrafts involved in the Thalladi raid proceeded south instead of turning north, the version however was later alerted - "The LTTE carried out an air attack on the Thallaadi military base, the main artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) launchpad of the Sri Lanka Army in Mannararound 10.30 p.m., dropping three bombs on the base.

Dropped two bombs

The Tiger aircrafts then proceeded to Colombo and dropped two bombs on the Kelanitissa power station, while Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) bombers were searching for LTTE aircrafts in the skies over Kilinochchi between 11 and 11.30 a.m." The report said that the according to civilian sources the Tiger aircrafts had returned to the Vanni flying over Mannar.

Other pro-Tiger sites simply said after carrying out the attacks the crafts had returned to the Vanni and gave no details.

The double raid, a first by the Tigers since unveiling the air wing in March 2007, is the third air raid by the Tigers since August 26, after which the battles in the northern theatre have taken a decisive change in tempo. This also is the first attack over Colombo  since the April 2007 attack that rudely interrupted the cricket world cup party in Colombo.

All the air raids this year,  by the Tigers  till the last week's  have been over areas closer to the Vanni, like Welioya (April 2008), Trincomalee (August 2008) and longest over Vavuniya (September 2008) which is only 70 km from Kilinochchi. The known Tiger air strips are all located south and south east of Kilinochchi.

Tigers cutting down on the distance had led the government defence establishment and others to think that the effectiveness of the radar systems and the potency of the F-7 interceptors had curtailed substantially Tiger ability to bomb targets in the south.  Last week's attack however showed that the Air Tigers had reverted to the route that they first choose when attacking Colombo, fly west off Vanni after taking off, hug the coast and fly low over the north western waters.

Paved roads as runways

There has been speculation that the Tigers may be using paved roads in the heart of the Vanni as runways for the aircrafts. The Zlins can easily take off and land on a runway that is 1 km and has a wing span of 10 meters, is just seven and half meters in length and about seven and a half meters in height with the wheel base. The wings of the crafts are held in place by three bolts.

The craft is also touted by its makers Moravan Aviation as being  suitable for air stunts, night flight and also as observation planes with room for built in recording systems. The Tigers are known to hide their large boats inland under thick canopies by using modified bus chassis or their lorry variant to mount the boats to transport them from the shore. 

The Tiger aircrafts have also been reported to be heading towards Mulaithivu, rather than Kilinochchi. The last such report was after the September 2 attack when a F-7 pilot reported a hit over Muliyawalai, just south of Mulaithivu proper. Flying from and to Kilinochchi will also take the plane very close to government forces who are ringed south west of the town.

The Daily News reported on October 31 that the F-7 interceptors could not get a proper lock on the Tiger crafts and their heating generating engines were covered with thick sheets to thwart missiles locking in. The F-7 missile system is activated automatically after heat sensors lock in on the engines of the targets using heat emission levels.

Psychological effect

The air attack created more psychological effect than military or economic damage. The PR factor has been one of the key after effects of air raids, and by using the Air Tigers for four attacks in a little over two months, the Tigers have indicated that Kilinochchi may be besieged, but that is no drag to carry out attacks using its more unconventional armoury. The air attack came while government troops stepped up offensive operations in the Vanni.

Government military last week said that troops from Task Force one, marching along the A 32 Mannar-Paranthan highway and just east of it had brought two more towns under their control including the strategic Nachchikudah, west of the road. On October 29 morning troops had reached Jeyapuram, located north east of Nachchikudha on the A32. "The newly captured village with an area of about 4 square km. was of the utmost importance to the terrorists for various tactical measures while facing the irresistible attacks launched by advancing troops," the Army said

Earlier troops had gained control of Maniyankulam, located north east from the A 32 itself and flanked the Tiger defences from the north.

Important Sea Tiger base

Later the same day the Army said that Nachchikudha had been brought under government rule by evening.  The coastal town with its fishing base had been an important Sea Tiger base and was the last important town before the Devil's Point area, that juts out to the Indian Ocean. 

The town is located about 1.5 km from the A32 and more importantly is linked straight to the highway by a byroad.  It is also 13 km. from Pooneryn. The Army also said that troops had gained control of a trench line used by the Tigers as forward defence line.

"Much-talked of Nachchikuda's complete length of the well-fortified LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL),about 8 km. north of Velankulam in the Kilinochchi District, was brought under the troops late Wednesday (29) evening in a string of military gains for the day." Troops had moved on Nachchikudha on three flanks.

The Defence Ministry said that the gaining of the two locations last week was decisive - "Counter terrorist operations west of the A-9 have reached a decisive phase as troops now have positioned themselves at gaining the vital western coastal line along the A-32 Mannar-Pooneryn Main Road, with the fall of LTTE's main resistance positions in the area: Nachchikuda and Jayapuram on Wednesday (October 29). Sporadic fighting was reported in the area after pockets of LTTE resistance were flushed-off from the area."

Heavy clashes

In between gaining of Nachchikudha and Jeyapuram, troops from the 57th Division had taken control of the northern bund of the Akkarayankulam tank. A deep trench had been dug between the Vannerikulam and the Akkrayankulam tanks and heavy clashes had erupted along the axis on at least two occasions.

Fierce clashes were reported on the axis on September 2 and then once again between October 18 and 22 leading to heavy casualties on both sides. Tigers have been using the bund and newly dug zigzagging trenchlines to thwart troops moving towards Kilinochchi.

"The two kilometre-long bund that stretches across the northern side of Akkarayanakulam tank with an area of about 4.5 square km. in total was thus captured amalgamating the troops on the northwestern side with their fellow-soldiers deployed on the north-eastern side of the tank which is also their Forward Defence Line," the Army said.