Tensions rise as Muthur East gets shelling again
May 12th, 2006
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
Coastal areas of Muthur East that are controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were targets of intensive atillery and shelling by land and sea again on May 11th. Virtually all the areas that were attacked on April 25th and 26th were attacked again. The small mercy being that aerial bombardment was not done this time.
[Sampoor Srimurugan Vidyalayam in Trincomalee, damaged from the April air attack]
There was a skirmish earlier on the 11th when four Naval boats accosted a flotilla of ten tiger boats on the waters of Kottiar bay. The tigers claimed they were engaged in training exercises as provided for by the ceasefire agreement. The Naby disputed the LTTE’ s right to do so. A Scandinavian monitor was on board of one naval ship.
The alltercation resulted in exchanges of fire. Both parties claim the other side fired first. In the brief firefight one Naval boat was slightly damaged. The fighting expanded with the navy camp at Kattaiparichan on the Muthur area firing at tiger positions in the Samppoor area. Parts of the naval installation in Vattam area of Kattaiparichan were also damaged. The skirmish which began at 1. 30 pm ended in about 20 minutes due to the intervention of the monitoring mission.
The next round began later in the evening at about 5. 00 pm. Several naval boats began shelling the coastal areas of Sampoor and other places in the Muthur East division. The shelling from sea continued till 6. 15 pm.The naval ships returned to Trincomalee.
But soon after began artillery fire from the Trincomalee harbour camp and the Monkey bridhe camp. The firing went on intermittently for several hours into the night. Nearly seventy – five shells were fired. Five deadly MBRL shells from Multi barrel rocket launchers were also fired.
The areas hit by shelling and artillery were Sampoor, Iralkuli, Kadatkaraichenai, Senaiyoor, Ilakkanthai etc that were damaged in April too. Many of the shells fell short of land into the sea. Since people who were displaced due to the April attacks are yet to return the shells which fell on land also did not do much damage to people it is learnt.
The exact casualty toll is yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile in Colombo it was admitted that the attack on Muthur was part of Government strategy to teach the LTTE a lesson.
Cabinet minsterDefence Affairs Spokesman and cabinet minister Minister Keheliya Rabukwella said that the Security Forces have launched limited and coordinated strikes on the identified LTTE targets to deter further attacks on the Security Forces,” .
The Minister refused to comment on how long the attacks will continue, but emphasised that a coordinated assault was made necessary by the sinking of two Navy gunboats by the sea Tigers earlier that evening.
“Operations will continue till the objective is achieved,” he said.
Related:
- SLMM Chief on urgent trip to meet LTTE in Kilinochchi
- Indian help sought to escort ‘Pearl Cruiser’ safely to KKS
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Contact DBS Jeyaraj : djeyaraj2005@yahoo.com
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