16.2.2008
COLOMBO: Air Force Commander Air Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke
said he was confident that LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran
had been critically injured in a series of air strikes on
Nov. 26, 2007. The Air Force had, he revealed in an interview
on State television, dropped twenty bombs in the raid and
all of them had hit the target. After that attack, he said,
very little had been heard or seen of Prabhakaran, who didn’t
even turn up at the funeral of senior LTTE leader Charles’.
Goonetilleke said the jets involved in the attack had come
under very heavy anti-aircraft gunfire, which was a sure
sign of Prabhakaran being there at the time of the attack.
In the run up to the Nov. 26 attack, he said, the Air Force
had taken several targets in the Wanni but LTTE resistance
had not been so heavy. He said Prabhakaran had a special
mobile unit equipped with anti-aircraft guns. Judging by
the intensity of the LTTE anti-aircraft fire on Nov. 26,
he believed, it had come from that special unit.
He said the bombs used by the Air Force were capable of
destroying bunkers located deep underground.
In answer to a question, Goonetilleke said the Air Force
had information that the LTTE may have carried out a missile
attack on an earlier occasion but the SLAF jets were unharmed
as they were equipped with anti-missile systems.
Before taking the Nov. 26 target, the Air Force chief said,
he had briefed Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on
the details of the planned air strikes and sought his permission,
which had been readily granted as there were no civilians
in the vicinity of the target, though it was close to Kilinochchi.
He said he didn’t subscribe to the view that Prabhakaran
had left the country for treatment. "A terrorist leader
usually doesn’t leave his movement at a critical juncture
like thisas he fears someone else might take his place,"
said, dismissing news of Prabhakaran being treated in India
as baseless rumours.
Meanwhile, intense fighting continued in the North with
the Air Force saying had bombed a training base of the Tamil
Tigers' naval wing in the north-east of the island Friday.
“Fighter jets pounded a Sea Tiger training base in
Nayaru in Mullaitivu, which is also used as a forward operations
base in the Welioya area,” Air Force spokesman Andrew
Wijesuriya said adding that the target was bombed based
on several ground and aerial intelligence reports during
the last few days. “We believe that considerable damage
has been caused to the Tiger base,” Wing Commander
Wijesuriya said.
According to military sources it was from this place that
the LTTE used to launch attacks on troops in the Weli Oya
sector.
“The pilots have confirmed that the targets have been
accurately taken during the air raid,” the spokesman
said, adding that there had been stiff resistance against
the troops attached to the 59 Division engaged in offensive
operations in the Weli Oya theatre and the SLAF air support
would help ground troops to carry out their operations successfully.
There was no information about any casualties and there
was no comment from the LTTE.
The raid on the Sea Tiger base in the Nayaru area was part
of the government's campaign to drive the guerrillas from
their northern stronghold and dismantle their de facto state.
The LTTE suffered heavy losses in the Weli Oya sector this
week during confrontations with the ground troops.
The SLAF has extended their support to the ground troops
operating from three fronts from Mannar, Vavuniya and Weli
Oya by successfully destroying Tiger military bases, training
bases, gun positions and leaders’ gatherings.
According to the Air Force spokesman SLAF fighter jets have
carried out 19 air raids so far this year using Kfir and
MiG fighter jets. Intelligence sources also confirmed that
more than 50 Tiger cadres including leaders, have been killed
during these air raids carried out within this year.
The SLAF on Thursday carried out an air raid destroying
the ‘Radha’ Base in Peravikulam, North East,
Vishwamadukulam in Mullaitivu.
The SLAF’s biggest success to date was the killing
of LTTE political wing chief S.P. Thamilselvan in an air
attack on November 2 last year.
Meanwhile during the past three days in Mannar about 22
civilians had entered cleared areas from LTTE-held Videthalthivu
using the sea route.
Fourteen Tamil civilians including ten males and four females
from the Vellankulam area in Mannar who escaped from LTTE-controlled
areas surrendered to the Navy at Vankalaipadu.
A navy spokesman said eight civilians including two females
aged 19 and 40 residing in the LTTE-controlled Illupakadavali
in Mannar had escaped from the Tigers and reported to the
police and the navy at Pallimunai in Mannar.
“These civilians had left as they were undergoing
severe hardship and harassment as a result of terrorist
activities,” the spokesman added.
Courtesy - South
Asia Media Network
|