New ‘force’ conducts first sting operation

The newly trained ‘Nandimithra Force’ of the Home Guards has carried out its first ever operation on Monday night in the Karuwalgaswewa area, where they arrested 12 suspects, who were engaged in illegal felling of timber in the Thabbowa Reserve forest.

A spokesman of the Unit said an eight man team of the Unit had conducted the raid and found two lakhs worth of illegal timber along with a lorry and a motorcycle. “Our members received no injuries during the operation though there was heavy resistance from the timber racketeers, who chased out the Forest officers last week,” the spokesman said. He said that the arrested persons were handed over to the police. For a long time these racketeers have been engaged in these activities and forestry officers could not prevent it.

The Nandimithra Force was the first team of the newly formed unit passed out recently from the Galkiriyagama Civil Security Force Training College after several months of training. “They were given training similar to the Special Forces of the Army and were also good enough to conduct their own operations against the Tamil Tigers,” the spokesman also added.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/06/06/news/05.asp)

Mighty LTTE Commandos Finally Show Up

June 5, 2007: The government told the UN that it would only accept a new cease fire if there were strict controls on the LTTE, and the UN insured that the LTTE adhered to the rules.

June 4, 2007: Over the weekend, there was heavy fighting in the north. It began with a large exchange of artillery and mortar fire, plus air force bombing attacks. The LTTE then launched commando style attacks at army artillery positions, leading to heavy fighting for those guns and ammo supplies. Nearly a hundred soldiers and LTTE were killed, and up to a dozen howitzers were destroyed. The army has been expecting such raids, which were a regular feature of LTTE operations in the past. But the LTTE contains a much higher proportion of conscripts and kidnapped teenagers, than in the past. The experienced fighters have been distributed among all these less reliable fighters, making it difficult to put together the thousands of commandos, as in the past. The LTTE only staged this one raid, through the thinly manned "front lines" that separate LTTE and army forces in the north. It's likely that the LTTE doesn't have the qualified manpower to do any more than that.

June 3, 2007: India has agreed to coordinate patrols in the straits between India and Sri Lanka. This will make it more difficult for the LTTE to smuggle weapons from India. Meanwhile, in the capital, two Red Cross workers were seized and later killed by men who claimed to be policemen. The government denied that any of their police were involved.

June 2, 2007: Fighting continues in the east, as small groups of LTTE fighters continue to resist. The military believes that at least a few hundred LTTE fighters in the east will never surrender, and will fight to the death.

June 1, 2007: Australia is preparing to ban the LTTE, which would shut down one of the major sources of cash for the LTTE. That, combined with losses from similar bans in Europe and North America, have cut LTTE income by more than half. Meanwhile, Tamils in Sri Lanka are increasingly trying to get out. The bitterness caused by two decades of rebellion and terrorism have made relations with the native Sinhalese majority even more poisonous. While the Sinhalese have always treated the Tamils as unwelcome foreigners, the Tamil terror campaign simply made the original antagonism worse. This war will not end well for the Tamils.

May 30, 2007: The LTTE has been launching terror attacks against civilians in the south. The government believes this is an attempt to somehow draw military forces away from the north, where the last LTTE stronghold is in great danger.

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/srilank/articles/20070605.aspx