Tigers take their struggle to new heights
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - Using just two small fixed-wing aircraft, the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have sent shock waves throughout Sri Lanka amid warnings
that the guerrilla group now poses a threat to "the entire South Asian region".
For the first time in its two-decade war against the Sri Lankan state, the LTTE
used air power in an attack on the Katunayake military air base near Colombo
International Airport on Monday. Three airmen were killed and 16 others injured
after bombs were
lobbed from the low-flying aircraft.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific immediately announced the suspension of its
flights to Sri Lanka after the airport was closed, and Australia issued a
travel warning to its citizens.
On Tuesday, Sri Lanka's main political parties asked for support from the
international community in taking action against the Tigers. "The air
power of a frenzied and desperate organization
such as the LTTE is a grave threat aimed not only at Sri Lanka but also at the
entire South Asian region," a joint statement signed by 13 political parties
said.
The statement called on the international community to pay "serious attention"
to all actions taken both locally and abroad by the LTTE, which is seeking an
independent state for Tamils.
Monday's raid was followed by a suicide attack on Tuesday on an army camp in
the eastern district of Batticaloa. Seven people were killed after troops shot
a suicide bomber as he tried to drive an explosives-laden tractor into the
camp.
Although the LTTE failed to destroy any of the Sri Lanka Air Force's MiG-27 and
Kfir fighter jets - these were apparently the main targets - the attack is
significant. That the LTTE had aircraft was known; the attack reveals that the
Tigers now have the capability to use them.
The attack deals a blow to the government's sovereign control of Sri Lankan air
space. Only the government has used air power so far in the armed conflict; the
Tigers have now broken that monopoly and have promised more air attacks. To
date, government forces and the LTTE have clashed mostly on land, although the
Sea Tigers are a force to be reckoned with on the ocean.
With Monday's mission, the Tamil Tigers have become the first militant group to
acquire air power without external support. Called the Tamileelam Air Force,
the LTTE's air wing is said to have at least one Czech-made Zlin Z-143 light
aircraft, possibly a Swiss-made trainer plane and a few helicopters. It has a
1.25-kilometer-long airstrip at Iranamadu near Killinochchi in northern Sri
Lanka and is said to be constructing another.
The Tigers have been trying to put together an air wing for more than two
decades. In 1988, the Indian Peace Keeping Force then in the country found
assembly parts of micro-light aircraft and instruction manuals in LTTE
hideouts. In subsequent years, the Lankan armed forces have discovered LTTE
workshops where attempts were being made to assemble aircraft. Aircraft spare
parts too were found in these workshops.
Through the 1990s, intelligence and media reports indicated that Tigers in
Europe and North America were purchasing technical manuals on aircraft and
shopping around for light aircraft and parts. It appears that the Tigers
managed to purchase a micro-light craft around the mid-1990s. They dismantled
it and smuggled it into northern Sri Lanka by sea. In November 1998, the LTTE
radio, the Voice of Tigers, reported that the LTTE used aircraft to shower
petals on the graves of its fighters on the occasion of Martyrs Day.
Despite clear evidence that the LTTE's ambition of acquiring air power was
rapidly taking wing, the government chose to deny this throughout the 1990s -
it finally acknowledged the fact after 2004. In May 2005, Hagrup Haukland, head
of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), confirmed to journalists in Colombo
that the LTTE had "air assets". He said he had seen an airstrip while flying in
a helicopter over LTTE-controlled area, but the Tigers had denied the SLMM
access to the runway.
The SLMM was established as an international monitoring force after a ceasefire
agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in 2002. The ceasefire
has in recent months been observed more in its breach than in its observation.
The attack at Katunayake indicates that the Sri Lanka Air Force's repeated
bombing of the Iranamadu area over the past year - contrary to Colombo's claims
- has not damaged the LTTE's air capability. Within hours of the attack, the
air force resumed bombing of LTTE positions in the north.
It had been widely expected that the Tigers would use their air wing to carry
out suicide attacks, using the craft as deadly flying bombs. Instead, they
chose to herald their arrival as an air "power" not with a spectacular suicide
operation but with a conventional bomb attack. This could have been a purely
logistical decision as a suicide attack would also destroy the aircraft, and
the Tigers do not have many in reserve.
It is easy to be dismissive of the LTTE's claim to having an "air force". A
couple of light aircraft and a few helicopters do not make an air force,
especially in comparison with the Sri Lanka Air Force's large and sophisticated
fighter fleet.
But the Tigers have always shown an immense capacity to improvise with their
limited arsenal, to wrest the advantage from their enemy. Sri Lanka has radar
gifted by India, but this cannot detect low-flying micro-light aircraft. On
Monday, Tiger aircraft were able to come right up to Colombo's outskirts, bomb
a supposedly well-protected military installation, and fly back to the safety
of LTTE-controlled territory. They were not even close to being intercepted.
It might be more difficult to penetrate the Lankan defenses a second time, but
the Tigers are adept at adjusting. In 2001, the LTTE carried out a spectacular
ground attack on Colombo's international airport adjacent to the Katunayake
military base. The LTTE blew up six commercial planes and seven military
aircraft, dealing the Lankan economy a devastating blow. The airport was a
tightly guarded installation, yet the Tigers were able to get past the
security.
After that attack, the Lankan government reworked security around the airport.
But Monday's aerial attack indicates that the security arrangements were
inadequate - the Tigers simply found a way around the defenses.
The air attack strengthens the Tigers' claims to be a state-in-waiting. They
control and administer territory, have an army, a navy, a police force and
courts. Now they have an "air force" that works, too. They have won a big
psychological battle.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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such as the LTTE is a grave threat aimed not only at Sri Lanka but also at the
entire South Asian region," a joint statement signed by 13 political parties
said.
