Friday, August 22, 2008

News Brief: Tunakkai Falls, Troops Poised South of Akkarayakulam


57 Division troops who have been laying siege on Tunakkai for the past couple of weeks, liberated the town from Tiger clutches. The town was defended by a mix of LTTE units, including the much trumpeted Charles Anthony brigade.

The LTTE expended many resources and cadres in defence of Tunakkai and Mallavi. In July, the Charles Anthony brigade was at the receiving end of a SLA ambush (in response to a LTTE counter-offensive) and lost over 80 cadres (31 of whom were recovered by the SLA).

The fall of Tunakkai came with an unexpected announcement that troops are now operating south of the Akkarayakulam tank bund. The Akkarayakulam area is only 12KM south of Killonochchi. The capture of this area has put Killonochchi and Iranamadhu under severe threat of SLA MBRL and Artillery. Once Tunnakai and Uliyankulam is consolidated, we can expect MBRL units to be move to the area to engage Iranamadhu and Killonochchi terror defences.

The SLA will now concentrate on Mallavi town, which will likely fall within the next few days, thus pushing the LTTE further east towards Mankulam. What remains to be seen is if the SLA will move east from Akkarayakulam towards Iranamadhu or further north towards Nallur.

A move eastward will provide many advantages for the army. The capture and destabilization of Iranamadhu area will sever the A9 thus creating a logistical nightmare for the LTTE. With this main artery severed, the movement of LTTE cadres and material from Killonochchi to the Vavuniya sector will be arduous. With the monsoon season approaching, the loss of Iranamadhu would mean that the terrorists would need to use jungle routes to supply their forces in Vavuniya - this will not be a simple task. The LTTE seems to have anticipated a SLA move eastwards in the direction of Iranamadhu as recent news indicates the so called 'Tiger Airwing' is now building a runway south east of Iranamadhu (inside Mullativu jungles). Thus the battle for Killonochchi begins and the LTTE will be forced to respond and commit cadres to the battle or risk losing its 'administrative capital' without denting the SLA offensives.
The LTTE must respond to the SLA offensive soon, without which the SLA will liberate Killinochchi without taking much casualties. This will mean that the SLA will immediately set its sights upon the last bastion of terror - the Vanni.

3 comments:

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Keep up the good work.

When you post the Ground Zero link in Defencenet and Defencewire, please post the link without brackets as

http://groundzerolanka.blogspot.com

In terms of execution, I would like SLDF to use UAVs to track terror concentrations and soften them by air or MBRL before our guys move in. This strategy may sounds expensive, but could save many SLDF lives.

Blind MBRL or Mortar fire is not the answer to getting the maximum return. We need UAV coordinated fire.

GroundZeroLanka said...

Noltte=peace...

I agree with you but SL has limited resources. We can't keep UAV birds in the air all the time and we don't have enough to cover the mass streches between Vanni, Kilonochchi and Poonyrn.

Further, we don't have the resources in terms of fighter jets to continuously engage the enemy from the air.

This leave MBRL and Arty, both indirect fire mechanisms. While the results may not be the same as an targetted air attack, its the best bang for the buck.

onceinawhile said...

GZL,

I think this is the best time for another update from you. Keep up the good work mate.