19.8.2008

LTTE personnel and territorial losses are accelerating because the LTTE can no longer maintain a "front line" of bunkers, the respected military website Strategy Page said yesterday.

"The Army is thus able to move deep into LTTE controlled territory, taking towns and major bases the LTTE depend on to recruit troops and extract supplies, especially food," it said.

The Strategy Page said: "So far this year, the LTTE has lost nearly 6,000 dead, while the army has lost nearly 600 soldiers. In the last two years, since the ceasefire collapsed, the LTTE has had over 9,000 of its fighters killed.

In that time, LTTE controlled territory has shrunk from 15,000 square kilometres, to 4,000.

The air force and navy have crippled LTTE smuggling efforts, but not eliminated them. Tamil fishermen from India are still willing to risk arrest or injury to move weapons, medicine and diesel fuel to LTTE controlled beaches in northern Sri Lanka.

The fee paid for these trips has been going up from about $1,000 to over $2,000. But the blockade has eliminated the use of cargo ships for these supply runs. So instead of getting hundreds of tons of supplies at time, the LTTE has to be satisfied with a few tons.

The government fears that, after the defeat of the organised LTTE in Sri Lanka, they will still be under attack from an LTTE expatriate terrorist organization. There are actually two LTTEs. There is the one in Sri Lanka. This one is under heavy attack, and about to be destroyed. Then there is the LTTE overseas.

Originally set up to raise money among expatriate Tamils (from Sri Lanka and southern India), this organization uses many illegal methods to buy and smuggle military goods into Sri Lanka. Because of some of the scams used to raise money, the offshore LTTE turned into a criminal gang. Failed rebellions often leave large, purely criminal, organizations in their wreckage. But the LTTE-In-Exile is threatening to turn into a terrorist organization as well.

Courtesy : Daily News