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Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) - Shoot on sight!

By our Defence Correspondent
FRIDAY the THIRTEENTH turned out to be a strange day in the north.

An Inshore Patrol Craft of the Sri Lanka Navy was quietly nosing its way through the narrow strait between the island of Nainativu and Punkudutivu, off the western coast of the Jaffna Peninsula.

It was 2 a.m. on Friday, the thirteenth of November. The boat was on a routine patrol, watching for LTTE boats, which might be trying to infiltrate the islands.

Suddenly, sailors on deck saw to their surprise, a red light blinking in the night sky. The boat immediately headed toward it. From the location of the light, it was clear that it was flying above the ground, and was definitely not a light on a boat.

As the navy boat neared it, another light was seen, apparently on the same aircraft. But it was still too far in the distance to see the shape of the craft. Sailors heard a faint engine noise. It was still too far to be sure, but it seemed like a motorcycle engine or something like it. In any case, it was moving too fast to be a weather balloon, the only explanation for mysterious lights in the forbidden skies of the north, where no aircraft is allowed to venture in the night.

The fact that there was some type of craft was clear, as an echo was showing up on the navy boat's radar screen.

The lieutenant commanding the craft took a snap decision, and gave the order for the patrol craft's 12.7 millimetre cannon to fire.

Pointing skywards at the lights, the gun boomed out, firing tracer rounds and shattering the silence of the night.

For the first time in Sri Lanka's 16-year-old war, the armed forces were firing on what is believed by many to be an aircraft belonging to the LTTE.

The navy craft fired over a hundred rounds, but the target was travelling too fast, and was not seen to be hit before getting out of gun range.

A few minutes later, it disappeared into the darkness.

The boat quickly radioed news of the incident to the navy's northern headquarters operations room.

Radio alerts
Within minutes, radio alerts went out to all navy patrol craft in the north, navy bases in the islands, and also at Kankesanthurai harbour. The Sri Lanka Air Force base at Palali was also notified, as was the army.

Two hours later, at 4 a.m., navy sentries on Karaitivu Island, the navy's main northern base, spotted strange lights in the air.

The lights circled around the islands for about half an hour, and then vanished.

The next morning, the entire north was abuzz with news of the incident. Strange lights have been seen before, many times, and a mysterious helicopter was seen by ground troops in the north in September this year, and an unknown plane spotted by an air force helicopter over the Wanni last year.

But those incidents vanished into the mysteries of war.

Now, for the first time, a mysterious aircraft had been fired upon, not with a rifle held by a single soldier, but with a heavy machine gun operated by the entire crew of a patrol boat.

Top brass of the navy, air force and army in the north met immediately, and frenzied discussions were held about the incident.

Some officers urged that all possible precautions be taken, planning to defend against an air attack by the LTTE.

Others took a more sceptical view, believing that the flying object may have been an aircraft from the Indian air force or coast guard.

Only a few weeks earlier, alarm bells were rung by the navy about an unidentified aircraft, which was later found to be an international airliner on a flight from New Delhi to Katunayake.

For days, the debate over the shooting incident raged. Inquiries were made from the Indian side, and were told very firmly that it was not one of theirs. The aircraft was also definitely not one from the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Then, on the night of Tuesday, November 17, a Dvora Fast Attack Craft on patrol off Nakar Kovil at the northeastern end of the Jaffna Peninsula spotted a flying object with lights.

The mysterious plane or helicopter also showed on the attack craft's radar screen.

Assistance
The Dvora called for assistance, and three other Fast Attack Craft in the area headed towards the scene.

Meanwhile, the first Dvora raced at top speed towards the aircraft, but it moved away quickly.

The Dvora then turned away in another direction.

Suddenly, to the crew's alarm, they found that the aircraft also turned, and was following the Dvora.

The navy boat turned again to meet the unknown antagonist, but the aircraft turned away again.

At the same time, another blip showed up on the radar screen, this time a surface vessel. It was heading from the shore out to sea and towards India. From its speed and course, it was probably an LTTE boat.

Preoccupied with the aircraft, the Dvora could not chase it, and it soon disappeared into a cluster of Indian fishing boats, which were trawling nearby in international waters.

Ominously, it appeared that the aircraft was trying to stay between the boat and the navy craft.

This continued for several minutes, until the navy reinforcements arrived.

By then, the mystery boat had vanished. The mystery plane turned and headed away from the navy, and was soon lost in the darkness.

None of the navy craft got close enough to shoot, or to see what it really was.

Half an hour later, the crew of another Dvora patrolling off Mullaittivu sighted the lights of an aircraft heading from seaward towards land. Again, nothing could be seen clearly.

While the incident on Friday the thirteenth may have been questionable, the reports of no less than five Dvoras are significant. It is believed to be a helicopter.

The armed forces were this week given orders to shoot on sight any unknown aircraft in the north.

At this point, we must question why the armed forces took so long to react.

In early 1996, an air force MI-24 gunship, armed with rockets and heavy machine guns, vanished without a trace over the sea near Mullaittivu. No wreckage was ever found. Nor were the bodies of the three Russian pilots.

Only the bodies of the Sri Lankan air force servicemen, who had hitched a ride on the chopper, were found, days later, floating near the Indian coast.

Hijacked
At the time, this column raised the grim possibility that the heavily armed chopper may have been hijacked or stolen somehow, and could be in LTTE hands. The possibility may be a little hard to stomach, but it was frightening enough, we feel, for the government to do something. The armed forces, as far as we know, did next to nothing.

In September of 1997, fourteen months ago, this column reported exclusively how an unarmed transport helicopter of the Sri Lanka Air Force spotted a mystery light plane over the Wanni in daylight.

Not having guns, the chopper didn't hang around, but beat a hasty retreat. By the time helicopter gunships and attack planes arrived, the intruder had vanished.

Yet, little action was taken by the armed forces, despite us pointing out that it would be a relatively simple matter for such a plane to be loaded with bombs and sent on a suicide mission to Colombo. If it was an LTTE aircraft, that is, which seems highly likely.

Since an LTTE runway was detected and destroyed by air force bombing as far back as 1991 at Iranamadu in the Kilinochchi district, and was subsequently found to be rebuilt, and was bombed again several times in the next few years, no-one should have been surprised, and precautions should have been taken.

Again, only seven weeks ago, this column reported exclusively, how an unknown helicopter was sighted by ground troops, again in the Wanni (MYSTERY COPTER OVER MANKULAM, Sept. 30, 1998).

On that occasion, a division commander in the north issued a general alert to his troops on the matter, proving conclusively that the whole thing was very serious.

Yet, proper precautions don't seem to have been taken.

One of the most effective things to do would be to warn the public throughout the island, and request that any sightings be reported immediately by telephone to the relevant authorities. Not only has this not been done, but also if a civilian sees such a plane, he wouldn't even know whom to report it to. Probably, he would call the local police station, which would ask him to come and make a written complaint! The report would get lost in some complaint book.

The most mysterious aspect of the recent incidents is that no-one knows what the aircraft was doing.

It is strange that it took no offensive action. At no time did it try to attack a navy boat, or an army camp, etc. No bombing. No rockets being fired. No shooting.

Reconnaissance mission
It may have been on a reconnaissance mission. But why would the LTTE want to reconnoitre Jaffna, and area they know like the backs of their hands? It doesn't make sense.

The Tuesday sighting would only make sense if the mystery boat seen on radar belonged to the LTTE. There is then a possibility that the aircraft was protecting the boat. That would mean that the Tigers definitely have several aircraft. If they have only one, they would never risk having it crash or shot down on frivolous missions.

The fact that both sightings were at times which clearly indicate that the plane or chopper would have had to make a night takeoff and landing is even more baffling.

Taking off and landing at a brilliantly lit airfield is tricky enough at night. Doing so in the pitch darkness of the Wanni, in the middle of the dense jungle, would be nearly impossible. So how did it takeoff and land? Do the Tigers have a sophisticated airfield hidden in the Wanni?

Another baffling aspect is that the mystery craft was showing lights in both incidents. No aircraft or ship would do this unless it deliberately wanted to be seen, which would be a very curious thing to do.

What the armed forces need to do now is to hunt down where the aircraft (assuming it was one) is being kept. The site could then be bombed out of existence from the air.

It is also high time that the Indian armed forces play a more active role in this mystery. If the LTTE has aircraft, they could very well stage an attack in India, like at Madras airport, to gain more publicity.

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who seems to have had some success convincing the South Africans not to allow the LTTE to operate there, should make India his top priority now, in view of the air threat. At a more operational level, top brass in the three services should use their contacts in the Indian armed forces to get the co-operation going quickly.

Sri Lanka needs to accept that we have no real clue on the matter, and seek as much help as we can about it. Even more powerful countries such as the United States would be most interested in a terrorist organisation obtaining aircraft. It would be the first time in terrorist history (barring hijackings of airliners), and would not make most governments happy.

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