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The death of Soosai
Has LTTE suffered its most devastating loss?

By Our Defence Correspondent
Amidst all the hoopla of elections and bomb blasts, and wild public speculation whether President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga suffered brain damage or lost an eye, an extremely significant bit of news went almost unnoticed by the country

Several sources in the North and East reported to the government over the last two weeks that Soosai, the long time leader of the Sea Tiger Wing of the LTTE, had been killed in the fighting in the Paranthan-Vettilaikerni sector, where the Tigers have been furiously trying to dislodge the army

The LTTE still hasn’t publicly admitted the loss of Soosai, which leaves a slight trace of doubt over his fate. But many in the armed forces are now certain that Soosai is indeed dead.

If this is indeed the case as all evidence points to right now, then the LTTE has suffered the greatest loss to its leadership in more than a decade.

Most of our readers probably haven’t heard of Soosai But in the North and East and among the armed forces, his exploits are legendary

Velupillai Prabhakaran is a strategist who has proven most adept at planning where and when to strike taking advantage of politics in Colombo, infighting among the top brass in the forces, demoralization of soldiers, or simply bad strategy on the part of the forces and government

In the same vein, Soosai was the man who planned and led the actual attacks on many an army camp or navy warship over the last decade His uses of land and sea forces together, and his attention to detail in planning an attack, have often frustrated defenders of army camps in the northeast, or reinforcements trying to get to a camp under attack

Since the LTTE’s deputy leader Mahaththaya, became too popular among the cadres and was killed on the orders of Velupillai Prabhakaran the Tigers have had no proper second in command.

But there are about half a dozen very senior leaders of different sections of the LTTE, from whom would come the next Tiger leader, should anything happen to Prabhakaran.

Soosai is one of them.

Since the LTTE became a true battlefield fighting force in the late eighties, only two of these top Tigers have been killed.

The first was Sathasivam Krishnakumar, alias Colonel Kittu, who was killed in January of 1994 when the ship he was travelling in with a load of weapons MV Ahat was intercepted and surrounded by the Indian navy in the Indian Ocean. Kittu ordered his men to set fire to the vessel, and went down with the ship rather than be captured.

The second was Colonel Akila, the leader of the Women’s Wing of the LTTE, who was killed in the battle for Neerveli town in the Jaffna Peninsula in November of 1995, when the army was advancing on Jaffna.

Soosai would be the third.

But in terms of military talents Soosai is in a league of his own. Indeed, the value of his death to both the army and the navy cannot be described in words. Soosai was probably the LTTE’s greatest tactician and field commander.

Soosai’s talents stretched much farther than his Sea Tiger Wing. He planned and executed many a daring operation on land, which cost the armed forces dearly.

One was the overrunning of the Mullaittivu army garrison in July of 1996 resulting in the wiping out of 1,240 soldiers for the trifling loss of less than 500 Tiger cadres.

Another was the assault on Pooneryn in January of 1994, when the LTTE almost overran the Pooneryn Peninsula, and almost succeeded in wiping out the brigade headquarters there. It was here that the Tigers captured a battle tank from the army which still strikes terror when it is used by the LTTE.

Soosai also planned the recapturing of Kilinochchi town in August of 1998.

Soosai even planned the unsuccessful attack on the port of Colombo in April of 1996, where a squad of Black Sea Tigers got into the harbour in an armour plated boat, and almost got to the army’s ammunition warehouse there before it was destroyed.

At sea, Soosai built up the Sea Tiger Wing, from nothing in 1987, to a force which very nearly took control of the entire northeastern coastline in 1995 and 1996. The Sea Tiger fleet of fast, highly manoeuverable speedboats outfought the far more heavily armed naval Dvora fast attack craft, taking advantage of shortsighted policies in the navy which had left the government side with too few warships and a lot of unsuitable warships.

It was only with the advent of a much more balanced naval fleet over the last three years that the Sea Tiger threat was quashed.

The Sea Tigers have been the main supply route for the LTTE, carrying cargo across from South India, or bringing in their ships close to the Northeast coast and unloading them usually off Mullaitivu.

The Sea Tiger supply route is one of the main reasons for the survival of the LTTE for so long. No matter how hard the navies of Sri Lanka and India, as well as both air forces, and authorities on land, have tried to shut off the flow of supplies, the Sea Tigers continue to bring in cargo. Many small boats are intercepted and sunk or captured, yet others keep coming.

Soosai is also believed to be responsible for the growth of the Black Sea Tiger arm of the LTTE. These are suicide cadres who are especially trained in the use of boats. Considering what a complicated art it is to train a person to steer a boat, repair a boat engine, fire guns from a moving vessel etc., this is no mean feat.

Soosai was also largely responsible for the development of new tactics such as the use of armour plated boats loaded with explosives, manned by a few suicidal Black Sea Tigers. These proved extremely effective, and could get through a hail of gunfire from small naval boats. Only the Dvoras and large gunboats could sink them.

One of the most effective tactics developed by Soosai was the use of divers, usually Black Sea Tigers who would swim into heavily guarded naval harbours and attach explosives to the hulls of warships. Among the many such harbours attacked were Trincomalee, Kankesanthurai. Karainagar, and Pulmoddai. Divers were used in the attack on Colombo harbour, but did not succeed.

The death of Soosai may not have seemed very significant to the soldiers under continuous attack at Paranthan for weeks now. But it will doubtless be a drawback for the LTTE, when the tigers plan more attacks in the future.

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