Kiranchi controversy: facts and fallacy
The air raid by Sri Lanka Air Force on Friday (February 22) at a
terrorist camp in Kiranchi, West of Kilinochchi, has drawn considerable
controversy. The knee-jerk reaction of the LTTE to this air raid was the
release,through its propaganda mechanism, of some pictures showing the
bodies of a few children and women, with the claim that nine civilians
were killed and 14 others injured as the Sri Lanka Air Force had bombed
a civilian settlement.
With ample evidence that the LTTE is an exponent of false propaganda
aimed at gaining sympathy of those who are not privy to the terrorists'
cruel mindset and also at contriving carnage against civilians,
defence.lk sought to refute these charges through defence intelligence
services. Despite the fact that intelligence related to air raids are
often classified as top secret, the intelligence sources divulged the
following facts considering the exigency of the situation.
According to the defence intelligence sources, Kiranchi has been a
pivotal area for the sea borne operations of LTTE terrorists for many
years. They have been using the area as a launching pad for its boat
movements and also for unloading its supplies smuggled via sea. Having
lost its floating armouries to the SLNavy recently, LTTE has been
depending heavily on the North Western coast of the island for its
supplies. This is mainly due to the fact that the narrow sea stretch
between India and Sri Lanka and the presence of a large number of Indian
fi****ng vessels in the Gulf of Mannar have made it extremely difficult
to have a firm hold over clandestine sea movements in those areas.
Against this backdrop, the "Kiranchi Sea Tiger Base " as the terrorists
termed it, became one of the most im****tant strategic locations for the
terror outfit.
Thus, it should be emphasized that defence intelligence has not
identified the target haphazardly or without substantial grounds.
According to Air Force sources, the Kiranchi base had been bombed 3
times in November 2006 and once again in April 2007. The air attacks
caused the terrorists to ****ft its assets within a 1-2 km radius in the
same area, from time to time, despite the heavy damages they suffered.
Nevertheless, the outfit could not afford to leave Kiranchi for good,
whatever the cost. Therefore, it can be reasonably assumed that the
terrorists would go to any extent to keep the Air Force fighter planes
away from the Kiranchi skies.
Meanwhile, navy intelligence sources received credible information on
the correct location to where the LTTE has ****fted its camp facility
following the successive air raids. The intelligence obtained through
human intelligence sources were then verified through extensive analysis
of satellite imagery by navy intelligence experts.
According to the navy intelligence officials, the target was positively
identified as a hiding place for LTTE logistics and attack craft, a
training facility for female LTTE cadres and an area declared a no entry
zone for civilians by the terrorists. Navy underscored that it was only
after confirming these facts through multiple sources that the target
was given to the Air Force.
The Air Force, on the other hand, claimed that it could verify the same
facts given by the Navy intelligence through extensive air surveillance.
According to Air Force sources there was no possibility for civilians
homes to be inside 2-3 Km radius from the targeted location. Moreover,
Air Force confirmed that the target was hit with the maximum accuracy
and as such the bombs could not have been dropped off the target.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Navy yesterday (February 25) decided to release
the latest intelligence re****ts that it received on the incident.
According to the intelligence gathered from ground sources, Navy claimed
that 10 LTTE cadres were killed and 9 others suffered injuries in the
air raid. It has been further re****ted that the bombing had taken place
to coincide with a training session for female LTTE cadres at the
targeted location. Among the dead were self styled Lieutenant Colonel,
Kalai Arasi, "Major" Thuwarika and "Lieutenant" Senthamarai, these
sources said.
"Lieutenant Colonel" Kalai Arasi, according to the Navy, was a senior
instructor for female LTTE cadres and also the in-charge of an LTTE
attack boat named "Surali". Also, there were 6 large LTTE craft and 3
small craft at the location at the time of the attack.
Navy has received further information from an informant, who was engaged
in fi****ng in the Walaikadu area at the time of the air raid, that he
observed a huge explosion followed by large fire with black smoke that
lasted for about 30 minutes. The informant has also said that the some
of the fishermen who had been engaged in fi****ng in the area were
summoned by the terrorists to assist them. According to the informant,
those fishermen who had gone to the location have stated that the Air
Force had bombed an LTTE camp in an area where no civilians were allowed
to enter.
Further, electronic warfare personnel of Navy on Saturday (February 23)
recorded a radio conversation between two LTTE stations called KR and RM
that station MR had been destroyed due to the air raid and the Mannar
LTTE leader was planning to visit the area on Sunday. It was during the
same radio conversation that one LTTE station issued instructions to the
other that not even Red Cross personnel should be allowed to enter the
targeted area until completion of the said leader's visit.
Thus, the evidence suggests that the LTTE's claim that the Air Force had
targeted a civilian settlement on Friday's air raid at Kiranchi lacks
credibility. It is equally true that those children in the photos
published by LTTE, if really they were killed in the air raid, were no
terrorists. In that case, the problem lies as to how and why those
children were brought to a terrorist camp that was located in such a
remote area.
When looking at the behaviour of pro-LTTE media in the South and the
terrorists' attempt to massacre innocent civilians at Mount Lavinia on
Saturday (February 22) , it is not difficult to understand that the
terrorists at least had two things in their mind. One is to prevent air
raids at their strategically vital camp facility and to create a
suitable background to justify carrying out a yet another carnage of
civilians.
While expressing our condolence over the deaths of those innocent
children, said to be killed in the air raid, we request our viewers to
contemplate the evil mind set of a group of terrorists who try to
protect themselves by putting their childrens' lives at stake. Also, it
is im****tant at this crucial moment to understand how cleverly the
terrorists have been playing with our minds to realize their sinister
goals. For instance, there exists a "Super Star" TV station in the South
that always omits to mention the LTTE in its re****tage of all civilian
massacres carried out by the outfit, but always strives to manipulate
peoples' emotions against the security forces for such attacks. However,
the same TV station when re****ting security forces' attacks at the
terrorists faithfully sup****ts the LTTE's falsehoods. Thus, it would not
be wrong if one may argue that such propaganda elements of LTTE are
subtly creating an indulgent mindset among the people and thereby
conniving with the terrorists to target civilians in the South.
The following is one such example in which a pro-LTTE website
shamelessly attempted to hoodwink the world by publi****ng a photo taken
in Iraq as one taken in Sri Lanka.
The same photo has been used by the pro-LTTE website
www.tamileditors.com as one taken in Mannar and even giving the Iraqi
victim a name, N.Kumara
The photo which shows the remains of a man in Iraq was initially
published on the website www.worldproutassembly.org
For genuine Situation Re****t visit:
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk
http://www.defence.lk/
http://www.army.lk/index1.php
http://www.nmatnet.com/
http://www.sinhalaya.info/index-EN.php
Worth to look following to see how brutal Tamil Tiger Terrorists are
Child Soldiers of LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorists in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/childwar.htm
Ethnic Cleansing in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/ethnic_cleansing_in_sri_lanka.htm
LTTE TAMIL TIGER ATROCITIES
http://www.spur.asn.au/ltteatrp.htm
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