According to military experts, future conflicts will take place in the littorals i.e. where sea meets the land. A large proportion of the world population is located in the littoral.
Besides, much of the industrial infrastructure and wealth are concentrated in these areas.Coastal regions serve as the nodes for transport of trade, culture, as also the hub of Illegal activity, be it contraband trade, drug smuggling, gun-running and even human smuggling. The sea serves as an easy highway and acts as a catalyst for promoting such activities. A quick look at the geography of the Indian Ocean region indicates that terrorist hubs are located in the littoral: LTTE in Jaffna , Sri Lanka,Al Qaeda in Yemen , Somalia , Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia and Jemaah Islamiyah and Free Aceh Movement in Indonesia . Some of these are also home to pirates. The centre of gravity of piracy and terrorism at sea is currently located in the Indian Ocean region. This is further flavored with the " Golden Crescent" and the "Golden Triangle", hubs for drug smuggling and gun-running.
In October 2000, terrorists attacked USS Cole , an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. As a matter of fact, the plot to attack US warships was conceived in January 2000 against USS Sullivan in Yemen . It was planned to ram an explosive filled boat into the ship. However,due to a miscalculation of the weight of the explosive charge, the boat sank when the explosive charge was put on board. The attack resulted in 17 fatalities and an estimated $100 million in damage. The attack highlighted the meticulous nature of planning, infrastructure built by a local professional figure trained in handling explosives, use of one or more suicide bombers supervised from a long distance, in this case Afghanistan . The bombers had links with Al Qaeda and America's No. 1 terror suspect, Osama bin Laden.
The terrorist attack off Yemen on the French oil tanker Limburg is a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of maritime enterprise to asymmetric threats. A speedboat packed with explosives rammed into the ship leaving it disabled and leaking oil. The attack was similar to the one against USS Cole . Traces of military explosives (C4) were found on the tanker as also debris of the speedboat that exploded. Al Qaeda has publicly called for attacks on economic centres and attacks on oil supplies to the west. Reportedly, Abu Laith, claiming himself as the spokesperson of the Al Qaeda, has issued a statement, " We, the fighters of the holy war, in general, are hoping to enter the next phase…It will be a war of killing, a war against business which will hit the enemy where he does not expect us to". Close on the heels of Limburg incident, a Greek warship operating near the entrance to the Persian Gulf was approached by a small, high speed boat. The ship fired warning shots and the boat turned away. A nearby flotilla of Japanese support ships were put on alert, fearing the incident indicated another Al Qaeda attempt to attack ships from nations supporting the war on terror.
Similarly, in April 2002, six small powerboats approached USNS Walter S. Diehl , a
US Navy tanker of the Military Sealift Command, while transiting through the Persian
Gulf. The tanker first fired flares to warn the small boats away but the boats appeared determined. Finally, it fired its .50-calibre machine gun and the boats then sped off.
Soon after, in June 2002, three Saudis were arrested in Morocco in connection with an
Al Qaeda plot to use boat-bombs against US and British warships transiting through the Strait of Gibraltar .
On January 19, 2003 , Palestinians tried to blow up an Israeli Navy vessel using a
small boat-bomb. Israeli sailors noticed a suspicious raft approaching them in waters
banned to vessels off the northern Gaza coast (near the beach of the Jewish community
of Dugit). Warning shots were fired first and then fired for effect, which caused the raft to explode. It is not known how many persons were aboard the raft-bomb. In November 2002, four Israeli sailors were wounded when terrorists detonated a boat-bomb off the coast of Gaza . The Israeli patrol boat was damaged but managed to return to base.The above incidents clearly show that the terrorist groups have built up capability and expertise in suicide attacks against ships.
An important question arises: where from this capability was obtained? It is fair to argue that it was obtained from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). The LTTE, fighting for a separate ethnically cleansed Tamil enclave in Sri Lanka, had developed a sophisticated strategy of attacking maritime targets like Sri Lankan navy ships and other commercial vessels. Sri Lanka has lost at least a dozen naval vessels, both in harbor and at sea, as a result of LTTE attacks. The
LTTE has engaged in wolf pack tactics, using high-speed boats filled with explosives that rammed into naval vessels. Sea Tigers, the naval wing of the LTTE, has emerged as one of the most ruthless and dangerous maritime capable groups in the world. The LTTE was reported to have developed a human suicide torpedo. The Maritime Intelligence Group, a Washington-based think tank, has noted that members of the Jemaah Islamiyah, had been trained in sea-borne guerrilla tactics developed by the LTTE .
The LTTE remains active despite the reported peace talks with the Sri Lankan government.A mystery ship, reportedly controlled by the LTTE, was spotted 100 nautical miles north east of Mullaitivu; it offloaded weapons to small boats before the crew noticed that they were being watched by Indian forces and began dumping items overboard.
Sri Lankan naval forces intercepted a dingy with six-armed LTTE cadre and communications equipment. Reportedly, Indian and Sri Lankan navies have instituted a range of measures to step up surveillance to prevent LTTE smuggling arms across the narrow northern strait separating the two countries.
In the recent past, the waters off Sri Lanka have witnessed frequent acts of piracy.In one incident, a merchant vessel, M V Cordiality, was captured and five Chinese crew were allegedly killed by Sri Lankan terrorists near the port of Trincomalee. LTTE rebel
forces are also reported to have hijacked ships and boats of all sizes, and kidnapping and killing crew members is a common practice. In August 1998, a Belize flagged general cargo vessel, M V Princess Kash was hijacked by LTTE rebels. While on its way to Mullaitivu , a LTTE stronghold , the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed the vessel to prevent the ship's cargo falling into the hands of LTTE. The status of the 22-crew members is still not known.
In a notable incident since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement in 2001,
the crew of a Jordanian ship, MV Farah III that ran aground near rebel-controlled territory off the island's coast, accused the Tamil Tigers of forcing them to abandon the vessel which was carrying 14,000 tonnes of Indian rice and risking their lives.The crew said that LTTE fired four times to force them out of the vessel after failing to explode it in choppy seas three days ago. The skipper of the vessel said;
"First they tried to set up a bomb and explode the anchor cable and when it failed they ordered us to weigh anchor"
He also said that the Tigers dismantled and removed all radio communication equipment and radar from the vessel.Later in May 1, 2007 Sayed Sulaiman, the chairman of the ship's owners, Salam International Trading Company gave an interview to the BBC Tamil service said;
"We hear from the parties who are concerned with the ship, the insurance company etc, that... everything that could be taken - like the rice, lights, generators - has been taken from the ship. The ship is now bare The presence of FOC (Flag of Convenience) vessels has indeed exposed chinks in the armor of security and posed new challenges for the maritime forces.Several terrorist
organizations are known to possess merchant ships. For instance, LTTE has a flotilla of ships that are engaged in maritime trade. Most of these are registered in FOC countries known as " pan-ho-lib" i.e. Panama , Honduras and Liberia.Operating under flags of convenience and staffed with a Tamil crew, these cargo ships carry out their activities between Asia and Europe . They are also known to regularly transport illegal immigrants or indulge in any kind of traffic on behalf of LTTE. For instance, LTTE vessels ship narcotics from Myanmar to Turkey . In order to give legitimacy to their fleet as also to generate revenue, LTTE ships move general cargo such as fertilizer, timber, rice, paddy, cement and other dry cargo.
Sri Lankan port of Jaffna is home to Tamil pirates and drug dealers. They provide security and courier for Myanmar drug shipments. Importantly, they have developed an integrated network of drug production and shipment by the sea route. Bulk quantities are transported over the seas to mainland US and Europe . Reports also suggest that 'ganja ' cultivation is being resorted to by some Acehnese in the remote areas of Aceh in Indonesia . If the "Free Aceh" rebellion catches on, drug cultivation and drug running could be used by them to finance their insurgency.
The LTTE has established a very sophisticated network of gun-running. It has contacts in several South East Asian countries, particularly Thailand , Myanmar and Bangladesh and conducts its business with impunity.The LTTE gun trade route passes Through the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea . Arms originating from Cambodia are loaded inboard small fishing trawlers in the southern Thailand port of Ranong. These vessels then transfer the consignment to larger vessels at sea for onward passage to Sri Lanka.
Earlier, in December 1990, port authorities at Penang impounded MV Sunbird , an LTTE commercial vessel, and seized diving and communication equipment and some ammunition. The Sunbird had also called regularly at Phuket. Reportedly, a large proportion of LTTE military hardware like artillery, mortar rounds, surface-to-air missiles,big-calibre machine-gun ammunition is bought in Bulgaria , the Czech Republic and North Korea . These consignments are transferred off Thailand from ocean-going vessels to smaller craft and then transited 1,900-km to Sri Lanka through the Bay of Bengal .
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