CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Vavuniya Raid; the truth vs. media controversies

LTTE terrorists launched an attack on the Sri Lanka Security Forces complex at Vavuniya on Tuesday (Sept 9). Their mission was to destroy the air defence radar system located at the Air Force Base, Vavuniya. To achieve this mission the terrorists had planned for their first ever "Black Tiger" raid supported by artillery and aerial bombardment. There were many media reports on this raid by the terrorists. However, many of them, particularly those in the print media, gave misleading accounts of the encounter.

Security Forces claimed that the terror mission was successfully thwarted, ground attackers hunted down and an LTTE aircraft was shot down during their retaliation. The terrorists and their propaganda allies showed that the terror mission was accomplished; air defence radar was destroyed, and boasted about effectiveness of the band of suicide cadres - "Black Tigers" - and their rudimentary air wing, "Air Tigers". Some of the most subtlest and scurrilous campaigners of the terrorists who pretend to be "independent defence analysts" filed stories on the raid leaving the public lost between truth and half-truth. Their inflated reports of damage reports and skeptical tone of writing were aimed at making the public have doubts about the security forces' claims about the attack.

However, these aberrations revolve around three main issues: the degree of success of the terrorist mission, damage caused to troops, and damage caused to the terrorists. Defence.lk contacted the several senior officials of armed forces who actually ran the battle and sought their assessment of the terror raid. The following report is based on their analysis, made with special attention to the above-mentioned key issues.

The Encounter
Around 3 AM, on Tuesday, 9 September 2008, a group of LTTE cadres clad in Sri Lanka Army attire tried to infiltrate the southern perimeters of the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters Complex in Vavuniya. The complex comprises the Army Security Force Headquarters Wanni [SFHQ- (W)], Air Force Base Vavuniya and a Police Base.

For reasons best known to them, the terror group happened to move towards their target through a camp of Army Special Force troops located in the SFHQ (W). The Elite Special Forces soldiers quickly identified the terrorists and the resultant battle sparked out. The hunters became the hunted as the terrorists were surrounded and shot down one by one by the highly trained elite soldiers.

Shortly after the battle broke out on the ground, the terror attack was seen to be unprecedented. Volley after volley of 130mm artillery rounds started to fall in to the security forces complex and to the surrounding civilian villages. Meanwhile, Air Force personnel manning the air defence radar detected two aircraft heading towards Vavuniya area. They quickly alerted the air defence system and the supersonic interceptors were made ready to meet the coming aerial threat. Owing to the short flight time from Mullaittivu to Vavuniya the terror aircraft were on the Vavuniya sky before long. Four improvised bombs fell astray as usual and only one of them exploded, but caused no harm.

The Special Forces soldiers were able to shoot down all the terrorists before they reached the vulnerable area of the air defence radar in a short span of time . All the 11 bodies of the terrorists were collected outside the fence of the High Security Zone. Air Force interceptors were able to destroy one of the LTTE aircraft on its return path. Artillery bombardment prevailed for about 1 hour and later halted as troops commenced engaging possible terror gun positions with indirect fire. The defensive operation successfully ended following the clearing operation in the morning hours.

Damage caused
13 Army soldiers were killed and 18 others suffered injuries. Except one soldier who was killed during the initial contact, all other fatalities and casualties were caused due to terrorist artillery fire. One policeman was killed and 9 others received injuries, while 5 airmen also sustained wounds, all due to artillery bombardment. In addition, 2 civilians and a child of Tekka Watta village suffered injuries.

Some 6-8 cattle were also observed killed due to terrorist artillery fire. Few buildings of security forces complex and vehicles too received damages.

Damaged caused to terrorists
LTTE lost 11 members of its brain-washed suicide cadres or the so-called Black Tigers. Only two of the suicide bombers were found killed of suicide explosions. It was not known whether they exploded themselves or were accidentally blown off due to army fire. Few others had committed suicide swallowing cyanide pills after receiving injuries. The majority of terrorists were found killed in direct hits taken by the army elites. Among those killed there were 2 self-styled "Lieutenant Colonels", 2 "Majors" and 7 "Captains", as later claimed by the LTTE.

Meanwhile, LTTE lost one of its aircraft along with 2 pilots. A Chinese built F-7 interceptor destroyed the aircraft using an air-to-air missile. The aircraft is said to have fallen to the Mulliyaveli area in Mullaittivu.

The Mission accomplishment
Undoubtedly, LTTE had intended to launch an attack that needs meticulous planning and great effort on the part of the planners and the combatants. However, the outcome of the battle proves nothing other than the LTTE's incompetence in carrying out such an attack. Above all, the failure indicates the extent to which the security forces have destroyed the combat effectiveness of the terror outfit that was once considered untouchable.

The above assessment of the security forces may still appear as an exaggeration or as an attempt to cover own failures, to persons mislead by misleading reportage. Therefore, to get a deeper understanding on the issue, one may compare the latest attack with the previous attacks of the terrorists.

One should not forget that the LTTE was once capable of sending a fully loaded lorry bomb to the Central Bank building situated at the heart of the Colombo High Security Zone and killed over 90 civilians. The terrorists once attacked Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and destroyed several airbuses of Sri Lankan Air Lines and also several Air Force aircraft including supersonic fighter jets. Such attacks not only shocked the nation but also pushed it to the verge of collapse. It was the BIA raid that turned the political tables in favour of the terror outfit and led to the greatest betrayal in the country's history. Undoubtedly, those were the terror attacks that taught vital lessons to the other less sophisticated terror outfits of the world.

Compared to the above attacks it is not difficult to understand that not only the Vavuniya raid but also the Anuradhapura raid in 2007 were nothing but flops. None of the attacks could inflict the slightest damage to the combat effectiveness of the security forces. At the Vavuniya raid LTTE lost 11 of its maniacal suicide cadres, an aircraft with 2 pilots and spent some 70 odd 130mm artillery rounds just for a mere propaganda stunt. The only real loss the armed forces suffered was the loss of few great soldiers who hade made their ultimate sacrifice for the motherland in a worthy battle.

On the other hand, the real value of the LTTE's mission in this raid is the revelation of the irrational and desperate thinking of the person who planned it. If the terrorists' aim was to destroy the air defence radar the only advantage they would gain is to enjoy few minutes of flight time. Ever since the radar has been placed in Vavuniya, the LTTE could not succeed in flying to the Island's South.

Also, if the LTTE's real priority at the time is to send its two light aircraft to the South, it is doubtful what the outfit would be able to gain from such a mission. It has been proven more than once that their aircraft could not do much harm than to hit the newspaper headlines. With the exception of a suicide mission, the air threat from the LTTE remains less effective in the present context.

Thus, it is not difficult to understand that the Vavuniya raid was conducted to give some psychological comfort to a disturbed mind than for any rational gain. It must have satisfied the ego of megalomaniac terror chief V. Prabhakaran, who always enjoy putting garlands on the photos of his dead followers. Pro-terror websites were quick to release the photos of the suicide bombers sitting with their ghastly leader before leaving the attack and later a much satisfied Prabhakaran lighting oil lamps in front of their coffins at his underground bunker. Despite pro-LTTE media stunts gave a momentous note into the LTTE mission, the terrorists only fell dead distance away, even before sighting its target.

If it has any other valid reason, it is to give some boost to the currently weakening terror fund raising mechanism operating outside the country. It has been widely known that the Tamil Diaspora who fund the LTTE's mayhem on the Sri Lankan Tamil community have been greatly disappointed with the signs of an end to this war. For them, continued war in Sri Lanka or in other words more Tamil children turned to child soldiers or killed as suicide bombers mean secured lives in Western countries.

Conclusion
There is no doubt those anti Sri Lankan defence analysts were anxiously waiting to ridicule the security forces if the terrorists were successful in their mission. Troops found an LTTE flag with a dead LTTE cadre indicating that their aim was to hoist the flag at the Air Force base after taking control of it, even for a brief period. There is no doubt that few other terrorists had been waiting outside the camp perimeter to take photographs of their achievement and release them to the Internet. Their failure was the reason behind the terror stooges in media being unable to exploit the incident as expected. Instead they have to make people disbelieve the security forces' claims in order to cover the LTTE's fiasco.

In one such report, a so-called defence analyst wanted pictorial evidence of the Air Force claim of having shot down the LTTE aircraft. It is unbecoming for such an "experienced defence analyst" to be ignorant of the fact that the heat seeking air to air missile of an F-7 jet will not be released unless it picks up a heat signature of the target it should home into. The pilot can only lock the target of his radar and make the weapon ready to fire. It is the automatic missile system that scans for the heat signature of the intended target and commands the missile path since its release from the aircraft. Also, after the release of the missile the pilot of the fighter aircraft has to ensure safety of his own aircraft. He is absolutely not expected to video the encounter to satisfy cynical defence reporters. The pilot has confirmed the witnessing the explosion at few hundred meters away from his own aircraft

It should be noted that if the LTTE aircraft had escaped the missile, the only way it could do so is by firing chaff, supported by a complex evasive movement. It would be rather unrealistic to expect the light aircraft of the terrorists to have a sophisticated missile defence system to counter an air-to-air missile threat. Therefore, all who question the integrity of the Air Force will have to wait ages until the terrorists develop some honesty to find the truth. Though the operational security priorities do not permit further elaboration, it can be stated that the Air Force is not capable of videoing all its attacks.

Finally, it should be noted that the security forces success in crushing the terror attack is not a coincidence. They have proven that they have learnt their lessons well from past experiences and displayed the highest standards of professionalism. It is unrealistic to believe that a terrorist outfit that existed for almost 3 decades would easily give up their fight. They would invent more new terror tactics to survive as long as they can. Recent victories of the security forces show that the terrorists are on their last legs. The security forces are well aware of the fact that the terrorists would use all they have against the advancing soldiers. The real challenge is to crush all such attempts with increasing effectiveness.

Disclaimer: The comments contained within this website are personal reflection only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the LankaWeb. LankaWeb.com offers the contents of this website without charge, but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions expressed within. Neither the LankaWeb nor the individual authors of any material on this Web site accept responsibility for any loss or damage, however caused (including through negligence), which you may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of your use of or reliance on information contained on or accessed through this Web site.
All views and opinions presented in this article are solely those of the surfer and do not necessarily represent those of LankaWeb.com. .

BACK TO LATEST NEWS

DISCLAIMER