Sergei Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 The Tamil rebels have lost to the army nearly all of the territory they once controlled due to the Sri Lankan army's improved tactics. BBC explains thus: It is partly because they have taken on the Tigers at their own game - guerrilla warfare. They have deployed small teams of fighters deep in the jungle, and sent out highly manoeuvrable boats to take on the Tigers' fledgling navy. Now the rebels have their backs to the wall, holding a shrinking but still significant piece of land. Estimates of their remaining strength vary, but they are unlikely to go down without a fight. It only took them over and all their foreign advisors 30 years to figure out infiltration tactics? Good on them. To make this accomplishment even more respectable, here is the leader of the Tigers, Super Ma... ahem, Velupillai Prabhakaran. He just has that aura of military leadership around him, like George S. Patton. Some actually have claimed that Prabhakaran has left the island as he hasn't been seen lately, but I know Velupillai wouldn't let us down. In fact, he's probably just waiting for the right moment to spring the trap that he devised and lured the army into. By the way, do you think that Sri Lankan army shares their spokesmen with IDF? A UN spokesman told the BBC that the last major hospital in rebel-held territory was being hit by cluster bombs. He said the main hospital in the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu had been evacuated after 16 hours of shelling. It is not clear who fired those shells. An earlier report that 52 people had been killed at the hospital has not been verified. Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara told the BBC that the military was not responsible for the incidents. He said the army did not have "the facility or capability to deliver cluster bombs". Referring to the incident at the makeshift hospital, he said: "Confrontations are taking place in Sudanthirapuram area. The rebels remove weapons from their dead cadres and put their bodies in civilian areas to show that civilians were killed". Claims by either side cannot be verified as independent journalists are not able to reach the front lines. It would sound strange for the rebels to have cluster munitions while the army doesn't. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costard Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 - even stranger that they'd use them on their own hospital. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Hofbauer Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 is there a map somewhere that shows area controlled by the respective sides? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 This is the situation at the beginning of January, but since then Mullaitivu has fallen to army. Just few years ago the Tiger controlled the whole area. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I want to know why the Elephants felt they had to get involved. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 They didn't, they let it Pass. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Yours truly riding pillion on a Sri Lankan war efflant 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Hofbauer Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 This is the situation at the beginning of January, but since then Mullaitivu has fallen to army. Just few years ago the Tiger controlled the whole area. thank you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvio Manuel Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Yours truly riding pillion on a Sri Lankan war efflant That's funny... I usually also break out into a grin when I'm about to spear indigenous folk. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 So who holds Jaffna and Devil's Point? Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 The government. The red only marks those places more recently captured, I think. Rebels lost Jaffna in 1990's. Here's one more map. I don't think you're going to hear the name of the last Tiger base uttered in tv news... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Apparently the Tigers want to go out with style! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/20/AR2009022000646.html?hpid=moreheadlines Rebel plane bombs Sri Lanka capital COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- An official says two rebel planes have attacked Sri Lanka's capital, dropping a bomb on a government office in the heart of Colombo. No casualties have been reported. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says a tax office was hit by the bomb. He says the air force gave chase to two rebel aircraft and shot one of them down. The attack amounts to a major embarrassment for Sri Lanka's government, which had claimed to have destroyed all the Tamil Tiger rebels' hidden runways and rendered its small air wing powerless. Witnesses at the international airport north of the capital said they heard a loud explosion and anti-aircraft fire, but it was unclear whether the airport itself came under attack. Anti-aircraft fire is lighting up the sky Friday night and the city's power has been cut as searchlights sweep the sky. The attack amounts to a major embarrassment for Sri Lanka's government, which had claimed to have destroyed all the rebels' hidden runways and rendered its small air wing powerless. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmar Bijlsma Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Attacking the tax man? Boy, they must be hard up for support! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Here's more updates: the plane that dropped the bomb apparently also crashed with the tax office. Sri Lankan military sources suggest that it was a suicide attack, but my theory is that the Tamil Tigers used Il-2 Sturmovik for their pilot training. This is supported by the fact that the other Tiger plane crashed on the International airfield (probably attempted to land). The surprising thing is that as many as two aircraft made it to the air. The original fleet must have been hundreds of aircraft. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7902392.stm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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