Sri Lanka’s defence secretary has warned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are being revived at local and international levels and would attempt to challenge the government again.
Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is also the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, cautioned that the LTTE would make a fresh attempt to resume arms smuggling and train cadres overseas and bring them in boats, reported the Island newspaper.
The LTTE would also try to open sea routes for their leaders to move in and out as they did some time ago, the paper further reported Rajapakse as saying during an address to navy cadre at Trincomalee base on Friday, August 28.
Negligence and shortcomings on Sri Lankan navy’s part would be catastrophic, the paper quoted him as adding.
“Urging the navy to be vigilant of the impending challenge, he said that the LTTE should not be allowed to raise its head again,” the paper reported.
“He said the battle-field victory achieved at a very heavy price should not be allowed to be reversed. But that would entirely depend on the continuation of existing security arrangements, he said, reminding the navy that it would have a significant role to play in meeting the looming threat,” the newspaper reported.
Rajapakse was further quoted as saying that the navy would have to thwart LTTE plans by setting up bases along the coast and maintaining constant surveillance.
In recent weeks numbers of Sri Lankan ministers and officials have come out with warnings of a LTTE revival, whilst the military continues to claim regular discoveries of arms caches in Vanni and arrests of LTTE leaders in the camps in Colombo.
Political analysts say the Sri Lankan government, which announced that the LTTE has been crushed and, even few weeks ago, declared that the organisation will never be able to raise its head again, is floating these stories to allow it to keep Tamils incarcerated in camps citing security concerns.
One of the reasons given by the Sri Lankan government for refusing to release the nearly 300,000 civilians interred in camps in Vavuniya is that they are still ‘weeding out former Tigers’.
As Sri Lanka increasingly comes under pressure from the international community to free the Tamils held in barbed wired camps, the frequency of LTTE leaders’ arrests and arms cache finds have also risen.
In the space of one week Sri Lankan police have claimed the arrest of two ‘prominent’ LTTE leaders and a major weapons haul.
In one of the latest incidents, acting on civilian information, a LTTE leader, who led a 40-cadre group at Wellamulliwaikkal area in the final battle, was arrested from a tourist hotel in Mount Lavinia on Tuesday, September 9, according to Sri Lankan police.
In a separate incident, a LTTE intelligence wing leader named Arulmozhi was arrested by Sri Lankan security forces inside the Manik Farm camp, Sri Lankan police claimed.
On the arms cache front, Sri Lankan police claimed that a large stock of arms and ammunition was unearthed from Vellaimullivaikkal on Wednesday September 10, based on information provided by LTTE cadres.
Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said Task Force VIII launched a substantial search operation in Puthukudiyiruppu and Sugandipuram areas and recovered a haul of arms. 3Referer:http://www.tamilguard0A“Police uncovered 18 T56 assault rifles, three dismantled T56 rifles, 8,000 T56 ammunition, three T56 magazines, four 0.22 weapons, a T81 rifle, three snipers, two 97 type weapons, a female suicide kit, a claymore mine weighing 15kg, six claymore stands, seven hand grenades produced by the LTTE, a body part of a 12.7mm barrel, an MPMG body group, 5,000 of 5.56mm ammunition, 4,600 MPMG ammunition, 425 of 12.7mm ammunition, 140 of 17.5mm ammunition, 32 of 9mm pistol ammunition and a 40mm grenade launcher bullet. Troops uncovered 200 GPMG ammunition, an FNC weapon, 134 FNC ammunition, two FNC magazines, 83 AP mines, an MPMG body part, 34 of 29.5 MT gas cylinder, 150 of 12.5 MT gas cylinder and five of 2.5 MT gas cylinder,” reported government run Daily News newspaper.
Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is also the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, cautioned that the LTTE would make a fresh attempt to resume arms smuggling and train cadres overseas and bring them in boats, reported the Island newspaper.
The LTTE would also try to open sea routes for their leaders to move in and out as they did some time ago, the paper further reported Rajapakse as saying during an address to navy cadre at Trincomalee base on Friday, August 28.
Negligence and shortcomings on Sri Lankan navy’s part would be catastrophic, the paper quoted him as adding.
“Urging the navy to be vigilant of the impending challenge, he said that the LTTE should not be allowed to raise its head again,” the paper reported.
“He said the battle-field victory achieved at a very heavy price should not be allowed to be reversed. But that would entirely depend on the continuation of existing security arrangements, he said, reminding the navy that it would have a significant role to play in meeting the looming threat,” the newspaper reported.
Rajapakse was further quoted as saying that the navy would have to thwart LTTE plans by setting up bases along the coast and maintaining constant surveillance.
In recent weeks numbers of Sri Lankan ministers and officials have come out with warnings of a LTTE revival, whilst the military continues to claim regular discoveries of arms caches in Vanni and arrests of LTTE leaders in the camps in Colombo.
Political analysts say the Sri Lankan government, which announced that the LTTE has been crushed and, even few weeks ago, declared that the organisation will never be able to raise its head again, is floating these stories to allow it to keep Tamils incarcerated in camps citing security concerns.
One of the reasons given by the Sri Lankan government for refusing to release the nearly 300,000 civilians interred in camps in Vavuniya is that they are still ‘weeding out former Tigers’.
As Sri Lanka increasingly comes under pressure from the international community to free the Tamils held in barbed wired camps, the frequency of LTTE leaders’ arrests and arms cache finds have also risen.
In the space of one week Sri Lankan police have claimed the arrest of two ‘prominent’ LTTE leaders and a major weapons haul.
In one of the latest incidents, acting on civilian information, a LTTE leader, who led a 40-cadre group at Wellamulliwaikkal area in the final battle, was arrested from a tourist hotel in Mount Lavinia on Tuesday, September 9, according to Sri Lankan police.
In a separate incident, a LTTE intelligence wing leader named Arulmozhi was arrested by Sri Lankan security forces inside the Manik Farm camp, Sri Lankan police claimed.
On the arms cache front, Sri Lankan police claimed that a large stock of arms and ammunition was unearthed from Vellaimullivaikkal on Wednesday September 10, based on information provided by LTTE cadres.
Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said Task Force VIII launched a substantial search operation in Puthukudiyiruppu and Sugandipuram areas and recovered a haul of arms. 3Referer:http://www.tamilguard0A“Police uncovered 18 T56 assault rifles, three dismantled T56 rifles, 8,000 T56 ammunition, three T56 magazines, four 0.22 weapons, a T81 rifle, three snipers, two 97 type weapons, a female suicide kit, a claymore mine weighing 15kg, six claymore stands, seven hand grenades produced by the LTTE, a body part of a 12.7mm barrel, an MPMG body group, 5,000 of 5.56mm ammunition, 4,600 MPMG ammunition, 425 of 12.7mm ammunition, 140 of 17.5mm ammunition, 32 of 9mm pistol ammunition and a 40mm grenade launcher bullet. Troops uncovered 200 GPMG ammunition, an FNC weapon, 134 FNC ammunition, two FNC magazines, 83 AP mines, an MPMG body part, 34 of 29.5 MT gas cylinder, 150 of 12.5 MT gas cylinder and five of 2.5 MT gas cylinder,” reported government run Daily News newspaper.
