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Security stiffens nationwide as forces brace for Tiger reply to Rana Gosa
By Our Defence Correspondent.

The armed forces have been placed on alert fearing a possible LTTE attack in response to the recent Operation Rana Gosa, in which the Tigers lost a lot of ground and even more prestige among the Tamil people.

Army camps throughout the north have been warned to stay on the alert for a quick Tiger strike. Forces’ personnel in Colombo have been alerted, for possible bomb attacks on key targets.

The last major bomb attack in Colombo was the attack on the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Air Force in Slave Island in February of 1998. Although there have been a few minor bomb attacks since then, no-one has been killed in them and only a few people have been wounded.

Although the LTTE has not suffered any loss of cadres from the series of operations code-named Rana Gosa, which started in March, the Tigers are smarting from the humiliation of losing a large amount of ground.

Rana Gosa was successful mainly since the forces advanced through the back door of the Tigers’ lair in the Mannar and Madhu areas, while the LTTE cadres were concentrated in facing troops in the north at Paranthan and Oddusudan.

The Operation proved that the LTTE is now too weak in numbers to defend against threats from several directions.

More seriously for the Tigers, more than 40,000 civilians in these areas have now come under the control of the government, effectively reducing the LTTE’s recruiting ability.

However, the very fact that the LTTE has withdrawn instead of resisting Rana Gosa, means that it has preserved what cadres it has. These could be used for an attack anywhere in the north.

The east is less prone to major attacks now, since the Tigers cannot afford to send many northern cadres to the east for an attack, since they would be significantly weakening their strength in the Wanni, an opportunity the army could exploit.

Forces in the newly captured area itself are dangerously exposed, since it contains dense jungle and the soldiers are spread out very thinly.

The loss of the Catholic shrine of Madhu, and the government’s determined effort to make the best propaganda use of it by sending thousands of Sinhalese pilgrims for the church’s feast in July, is one sore point with the LTTE hierarchy, who feel that they have lost face with Tamil Catholics in the Wanni.

The government is well aware of this and Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte has made several visits to the Madhu area, to promise people there that the area will be calm and quiet during the feast time.

The most recent operation "Rana Gosa IV," took only three days to capture 353 square kilometres of territory, including 28 grama niladhari divisions in the Madhu, Mannar and Manthai West areas, all in the Mannar district. There was absolutely on resistance from the LTTE.

Small group operations are continuing in the recently captured jungle areas, to find any LTTE cadres who may be hiding there and waiting to stage night attacks. However, this area is not immediately near Madhu, hence the government’s confidence in taking pilgrims to the church in this hasty fashion, with Ratwatte even ensuring an electricity supply to Madhu from the National Grid, in his capacity of Minister of Irrigation and Power.

In any case, July has often been a month of major attacks by the LTTE. The first LTTE attack ever, the assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappa, took place on July 27 in 1975.

Other notable attacks over the years include the Dehiwela bomb blast in 1996 which killed 58 people, the assassination of TULF leader Appapillai Amirthalingam in Colombo in 1989, and the attempted assassination of then Housing and Construction Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva in Jaffna in 1996.

July 5 is also the anniversary of the first Black Tiger suicide attack, in which LTTE Captain Millar blew up an army camp in Jaffna by driving a lorry filled with explosives into it.

Meanwhile, air force officials are red-faced over an incident in which a pilot accidentally fired off his anti-missile system seconds after taking off from the Katunayake airport, two weeks ago.

The Antonov AN-32 was one of three on their way to the north, when the last plane fired the string of ten phosphorous anti-missile flares, several hundred feet above the ground, reportedly causing a brilliant fireworks display. No-one was hurt.

The anti-missile systems, which are operated with the pressing of a single button in the cockpit, were installed in all SLAF aircraft after two Avro transports were shot down by LTTE missiles over Palali in April 1995. This is the latest in a string of accidents involving the anti-missile system, but fortunately no-one has been killed. The most serious took place several months ago when a helicopter carrying President Chandrika Kumaratunga accidentally fired the anti-missile system, while it was coming in to land at an official function up-country, wounding several civilians.

Navy chief Vice Admiral Cecil Tissera has begun an interesting project to build a naval museum in Trincomalee, to coincide with the Sri Lanka Navy’s golden jubilee celebrations next year.

The project is expected to be of minimal cost, since the museum will be located on the premises of the Naval Dockyard, and all artifacts will be collected from within the navy itself.

An area at "Hood’s Towar" on the cliff above the sea approach to the Trincomalee harbour has been identified for the location. The museum will contain a vast array of artifacts, including weapons, boats and other items captured from the LTTE, old naval weapons and other paraphernalia. Also included in the museum will be artifacts from British colonial times, including the massive guns of Hood’s Tower.

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