Trench war in Kilinochchi
By Amantha Perera
The nights in
Jaffna are usually quiet, unless disturbed by fighting on the
Muhamalai front or artillery exchanges. Last
week the early evening's quiet was broken by
something else - loud hailers. They were
crisscrossing the labyrinth of lanes and
by-lanes in
Jaffna,
informing the people to support a harthal
set for the next day - October 23.
The harthal had been called as a protest
against attempts by the Tigers to attack two
ships that were carrying supplies to Jaffna
just outside the Kankesanthurai harbour
during the morning hours of October 22.
Not much damage
The two ships - Nimalawa and Ruhunu were
berthed outside KKS, with the former
carrying rice, flour, sugar, medicine and
other items including clothes, and the
latter loaded with cement. On October 22
morning three Tiger suicide boats approached
the ships to carry out the attack around
5.10 in the morning.
Sailors on board the two ships noticed the
boats as they approached the ships and
opened up with rocket propelled grenades and
light machine guns. One suicide craft came
alongside the hull of the Nimalawa and
exploded but did not cause much damage. The
ship later underwent repairs at the Malliady
jetty. Two other craft could not get close
enough and were stopped by the gunfire.
"Two LTTE suicide boats were completely
destroyed and one was captured by the navy
patrol craft," the navy said later. The
patrol craft that had responded to the
attack later recovered the craft floating in
the sea.
It was locally manufactured to a catamaran
style multi-hull design with the main hull
in the middle and two smaller ones on either
side. It was manufactured from fibre and had
a 15 horsepower outboard engine mounted on
it.
In the front of the craft the middle hull
extended further out than the two on either
side which extended beyond the outboard
motor in the rear. The middle hull, stronger
in construction was designed to initiate an
explosion on impact with the ram like
design, the Defence Ministry said.
It was painted in the light blue colours of
the sea and the design made very little of
it visible above the waves. The navy
suspects that the craft may have waited
among fishing boats that fish in nearby
shallow seas and then launched the attack.
The suicide craft cannot maintain high
speeds for an extended time and usually rely
on short bursts of speeds to catch up with
larger boats after creeping near or lying in
wait.
Despite the government releasing pictures of
the ships after the attacks and video of
them off-loading, Tiger and pro-Tiger media
outlets said that at least one of the ships
was sunk in the attack that was carried out
around 5 in the morning. TamilNet said that
Nimalawa carried military items. Other
pro-Tiger sites used pictures issued by the
navy of the ships to describe the attack.
One important fact was that at least one of
the suicide cadres was a high ranker.
"The Tiger mission was led by Black Sea
Tiger Lt. Col. Ilakkiyaa, the deputy
commander of the Sea Tigers' female wing,
who sacrificed her life with Black Sea Tiger
Commando Lt. Col. Kuperan," TamilNet said.
Importance of mission
The attack may have been planned for far
greater damage than what was inflicted and
the sending of a high ranker for the attack
may be indicative of the importance the
Tigers placed on the mission.
The government said that the attack was
premeditated and linked it with the one on
the UN food convoy on October 16 in the
Puliyankulam area, north of Omanthai that
forced the convoy to turn back. It said it
was yet another occasion where the Tigers
were using civilians for their own military
benefit.
"The government notes that the LTTE has
continuously done everything possible to
subvert all relief measures to these people,
the most pernicious strategy being that of
forcibly deploying them to act as a human
shield in the face of advancing security
forces, blocking their movement to safe
areas wherever possible. The Government of
Sri Lanka has been using air and sea routes
as means of transporting essential food
items and ferrying civilians."
The attack on the ships is the latest
event in a serious escalation of fighting
since the last week of August. It began with
the air attack on the Trincomalee Naval Base
on August 26, followed by heavy clashes on
the Vannerikulam-Akkarayankulam axis
southwest of Kilinochchi on September 2.
A week later, on September 9, the Air Tigers
once again flew, this time over the Wanni
Security Forces Headquarters in Vavuniya as
a group of Black Tigers who had infiltrated
the base were engaged in fierce gun battles
with Army Special Forces and others. One of
the Tiger aircraft was struck down by a
missile fired by an air force F-7 near
Muliayaweli, south of Mulaithivu according
to the government defence establishment.
Tigers deny
The Tigers have denied that any of their
Zlin-143 aircraft were downed, but the air
wing had remained grounded for the last
month and a half. But the
Vannerikulam-Akkarayankulam trench line has
been a line of fire with battles raging.
The Tiger trench line that zigzags and
encircles the southern approaches to
Kilinochchi, on the Muliathivy front and in
Nachchikuda has now been compared to how the
Soviet Red Army under Joseph Stalin
fortified itself in
Stalingrad in mid 1942 using the chilling Russian winter and
fortification to thwart and eventually
defeat the Nazi Army.
There are some nasty similarities
between Stalingrad of 1942 (now Volgograd)
and today's Kilinochchi - by the time the
Germans approached the city, it had been
emptied of all its livestock and harvest,
and was under continuous air and artillery
assault, and women and children were used to
dig trenches. By the time the battle ended
in February 1943, 1.5 million had died
including a large component of civilians.
Indian defence writer B. Raman last week
compared the battles raging on the trench
lines of Kilinochchi to a mini Stalingrad
with the Russian winter replaced by the
northeastern monsoon that is setting in.
Whether the comparison is valid or
otherwise, the Kilinochchi trench line is
one of fire.
Last week heavy battles erupted in the
area beginning from October 18 morning when
troops from the army's Task Force One (Vannerikulam
area) and 57th Division (Akkarayankulam)
stormed the trench line during the early
hours of the morning.
Pitched battles
"Troops have run at the LTTE defence
kept along the earth bund and entered into
the remaining LTTE hiding areas in the area
north of Akkarayankulam tank. Pitched
battles are going on in the area, at
present," the Ministry said later that day.
Similar clashes were reported in the
Nachchikuda area closer to the northwestern
coast and the military had gained control of
a small village - Manniyakulam, northeast of
Nachchikuda in an effort to out flank Tiger
positions and encircle the town. Some
reports from the Nachchikuda front indicated
that the Tigers may pull back from the
important Sea Tiger base there.
The clashes southwest of Kilinochchi would
continue well into October 22 morning. The
clashes were heavy and casualties high but
according to the Defence Ministry troops
from the 57th Division that attacked the
trench line and bund from the east were able
to gain control of a 3 km stretch with 19
fortified bunkers.
"During these clashes on the weekend, 33
soldiers were reported killed in action, 48
injured and three others were reported
missing. Both ground and radio monitoring
sources reported heavy damages to the
terrorists. Troops during clearing
operations found the remains of 11 LTTE
cadres along with seven T-56 riffles," the
Ministry said. Neither the army nor the
Defence Ministry released exact Tiger
casualty figures but said that ground troops
reported the figures were high.
Late last week the Defence Ministry
said that it had temporarily suspended
issuing casualty figures because it was
impeding battle field successes.
"The Editorial Board of defence.lk has
decided to temporarily suspend the reporting
of all casualty figures in relation to the
ongoing counter terrorist operation in the
Wanni. This is in consideration of the
continuing advance of the security forces
there and the need for operational security,
whereby such reportage may impede the
successful accomplishment of the mission,"
it said.
Task Force One that attacked the trench
line from the west of the Akkarayankulam
tank had also been able to breach the line.
Strategy adopted
Heavy fighting has been reported from the
Vannerikulam-Akkarayankulam axis since
September 2 when the Tigers first launched
fierce resistance after adopting a strategy
of falling back till then. They also
inducted battle hardened units like Imran
Pandyan and Charles Anthony under the
command of seniors like Bhanu and Theeban.
Government forces now find themselves in a
similar situation as they did in areas
further south like Madhu and Adamapan when
rapid gains were followed by periods of
consolidation and continuous pressure on the
Tiger defences before they were breached.
But most of the southern defences were
manned by loose knit civil militias, newly
inducted cadres or female Tigers.
Interestingly, TamilNet did not report
extensively on last week's clashes along
Vannerikulam and Akkarayankulam. The only
report appeared on October 22 that said that
government forces had intensified operations
in the area.
"Sri Lanka Army stepped up fighting amid
stiff resistance by the Tigers. SLA launched
an artillery barrage on the frontiers, also
extended to target the suburbs of
Kilinochchi town," it said adding, "LTTE
defensive formations were engaged in several
fronts putting up stiff resistance,
according to the sources close to the LTTE.
The fighting intensified in Akkaraayan and
Mu'rika'ndi on Wednesday from 5.30 am till
6.00 pm after four days of continuous
fighting along the southern frontiers of
Kilinochchi."
Rains have also created their own set of
problems with the dirt tracks of the Wanni
turning into mud tracks. Heavy rains also
nullify the potency of artillery fire and
air raids. Some of the areas where the army
is now stationed in are also prone to
flooding like Kokavil and nearby tanks.
Real fear
The same fate is a very real fear for
tens of thousands of IDPs now scattered
northeast of Kilinochchi, where they remain
between Paranthan and Puthukudiruppu.
Despite no reports of floods after the onset
of the monsoon, state officials in the Wanni
say that shelter has become a major need.
Kilinochchi Government Agent Nagalingam
Vedanayagam said that there was an immediate
need of 6000 shelters for the displaced
persons in Kandavalai and Karachchi
divisions.
He however said there was no threat of
floods at the moment, but added that
civilians were suffering due to the lack of
proper sheltering facilities.
"There is no threat of floods. There is
continuous rain. The civilians are facing a
lack of proper sheltering facilities. Most
of the IDPs are living in shelters made by
them."
Mulaithivu GA Imelda Sukumar said that there
was an urgent need of 14,000 shelters out of
which only 3000 were being put up.
Civilians suffer
The roads that the food convoys take, east
of Puliyankulam, especially the stretch
between Puliyankulam and Nedunkerni are in
pretty bad shape, Sukumar said. The
government has allocated Rs. 30 million as
emergency funding to repair the road, she
added.
Two weeks back the UN food convoy was
delayed by over two hours when two trucks
got stuck in potholes. Last week another
convoy of 28 trucks travelled to the Wanni.
However, the UN will only begin
transporting shelter material this week.
There were also concerns over hygiene with a
few reported cases of diarrhoea.
IDPs in both districts have received food
items sent by the government and WFP, the
government officials said.
"There is no threat of floods so far. But
the civilians are suffering due to the
showers. Children are vulnerable and the
toilet facilities are very bad," Sukumar
said.
