MAMMOTH RECOVERIES OF LTTE LETHAL WEAPONRY CONFIRM THEIR TOTAL DEFEAT IN THOPPIGALA
Courtesy - MCNS

Troops engaged in extensive clearing operations in the newly liberated Thoppigala area continue to uncover large stock of arms and explosives including surface to air missiles, MBRLs and mortars left behind or hidden by LTTE cadres who were forced to abandon the area the face of advancing troops.

Just as in Mavilaru, Sampur and Vakarai the LTTE suffered a humiliating defeat in Thoppigala in the absent of directives from its leadership. The absence of such directives affected their lower ranks. Besieged in a land locked area Tiger cadres had no option of transporting their arsenal other than to abandon or hide them before they ran for their lives.

More survival was the key factor for hundreds of baffled LTTE cadres on the run who fought disorganized individual battles when confronted by Security Forces. Paralyzed with no leadership in sight and demoralized by successive defeats, Tiger cadres were dodging the battle to save their lives.

Commando units, specialists in jungle warfare forced the LTTE’s hurried retreat even more difficult. Small groups of fleeing LTTE cadres were hunted down and their arms recovered. The intensity of jungle warfare and the battle proven tactics used by the Army’s elite Commandos, Special Forces, infantry and supporting arms gave the LTTE hardly any chance of destroying most of their lethal weapons including other explosive devices.

Thoppigala and Vakarai have so far yielded one of the biggest LTTE arms and explosives caches in the eastern theatre of operations during the last 25 years. Many of these including MBRLs, 152 mm Artillery Guns, 120 mm artillery, mortars, heavy machine guns, anti aircraft missiles, mines and explosives were either buried or concealed in thick jungle patches by retreating LTTE cadres.

The humanitarian mission to liberate the general area of Thoppigala began on 25th April 2007. Troops successfully gained control of the areas while destroying the LTTE bases. On 11th July 2007 troops reached the Thoppigala rock signifying the liberation of the entire eastern province.

Troops are currently engaged in search operations to engage small groups of LTTE cadres who are fleeing the area. Soldiers were busy in clearing operations are likely to recover more and more weapons abandoned by the LTTE. The arms and ammunitions recovered to this date from the Thoppigala operation is as follows;

SRL NO TYPE OF ITEM QUANTITY
1 SURFACE TO AIR MISSILE 1
2 MBRL( 12x barrels ) 1
3 120 MM MORTAR 4
4 82 MM MORTAR GUN 5
5 81 mm MOTAR GUN 7
6 60 MM MORTAR GUN 3
7 ROCKET LAUNCHERS 3
8 12.7 ANTI AIR CRAFT GUN 1
9 MPMG 9
10 GPMG 5
11 LMG 6
12 SNIPER GUN 4
13 40 MM GL 7
14 RPG GUN 25
15 T 56 WPNS 268
16 PISTOL 1
17 HAND GRENADES 14
18 ANTI TANK MINES 6
19 AP MINES 1170
20 CLAYMOE MINES 63
21 PRESSURE MINE 6
22 HIGH EXPLOSIVES 270Kg
23 C4 EXPLOSIVE 63Kg
24 HE CONTAINER (45 KG) 3
25 BANGALORE TORPEDO 85
26 IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE 4
27 MBRL ROCKETS 11
28 120 MM MORTAR BOMBS 167
29 82 MM MORTAR BOMBS 373
30 81 MM MORTAR BOMBS 499
31 60 MM MORTAR BOMBS 785
32 12.7x 51 AMMO 2635
33 7.62x54 AMMO 10000
34 RPG ROUNDS 10
35 40 MM GL AMMO 9
36 LMG DRUM 1
37 AGL AMMO (BOX) 6
38 T 56 AMMO 8672
39 T 56 MAGAZINES 165
40 DETONATERS 1168
41 DETONATER CORD 553m
42 ELECTRIC DETONATORS 2
43 REMOTE CONTROL DEVICE 1
44 CLAYMORE MINE RECEIVERS 10
45 120 mm MOTAR CARRIERS 9
46 120mm MOTAR AIMING PICKET 3
47 82 MM MORTAR CARTRIDGES 400
48 82 MM MORTAR FUSES 103
49 82 mm MORTAR BASE PLATE 2
50 60 mm MORTAR CARTRIDGES 120
51 60 mm MORTAR FUSES 90
52 CONNECTORS 4
53 COMMUNICATION SETS 54
54 VEHICLE MOUNT RADIO STES 1
55 BASE STATION RADIO SETS 1
56 CDMA PHONES 2
57 COMMUNICATION EXCHANGES 2
58 COUGAR H/H 5
59 COUGAR SMT 3
60 CPU 11
61 PHOTOCOPY MACHINE 3
62 TV PROJECTOR 1
63 MOBILE PHONE 1
64 GPS 3
65 ROD ANT 4
66 WIRE CORD 13m
67 T 56 TOOL KIT 1
68 JHONNY MINE FUSES 76
69 AP MINE FUSE 102
70 RE CHARGEABLE BATTERIES 32
71 BINOCULAR 3
72 NIGHT VISION 1
73 CYANIDE CAPSULE 15
74 EXCAVATOR 4
75 BOOM TRUCK 1
76 WATER BOWSER 2
77 VAN 4
78 LORRY 1
79 HAND TRACTOR 1
80 BACKHOE 2
81 DOUBLE CAB 8
82 CANTER TRUCK 10
83 TRACKTOR 12
84 TAILOR 15
85 SRAPER 1
86 GENERATOR 6
87 DOZER 1
88 MOTOR BIKE 25
89 MAPS 5
90 SAFETY CORD 200m
91 BELT ORDER 4
92 POUCHES 46
93 LTTE ID CARDS 1000
94 LTTE PHOTOS 50
95 CAP 1
96 LTTE CAPS 3
97 WATER BOTTLE 1

Request please be kind enough to give wide publicity to the above in order to inform the public of the troops successes.