03-27-2007, 03:57 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Tigers in the air</b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Shoot them down before it's too late
Unlike their July 2001 suicide bombings at the Sri Lankan Air Force base adjacent to the international airport near Colombo, in which six civilian jetliners and more than a dozen military aircraft were destroyed, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on <b>Monday carried out a daring raid on the same base with the help of small aircraft. Reports emanating from Sri Lanka suggest that the LTTE used two small aircraft to drop four bombs on the base in the early hours of Monday, killing at least three Air Force personnel and injuring several others</b>. Although the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry has claimed that no aircraft was destroyed in the raid, reports suggest this is not quite true. Apart from causing damage and death, the air raid has shown up Sri Lanka's intelligence gathering system as extremely inefficient and the response time of its Air Force personnel as grossly inadequate. For many years speculation has been rife about the LTTE acquiring small aircraft to set up the 'Tamil Eelam Air Force'; strangely, the Sri Lankan Government, despite evidence about an air strip being built by the Tigers in the Northern Province, failed to take pre-emptive action. Worse, Air Force personnel on duty at the base on Sunday night virtually did nothing to either intercept or shoot down the aircraft although they were detected by the radar. Given the shoddy response of the Air Force, it is not surprising that foreign airlines should have decided to suspend operations to Sri Lanka for the time being. Meanwhile, having taken the Sri Lankan Air Force by surprise, the LTTE is feeling emboldened and triumphant enough to release photographs of the crew who flew the aircraft being congratulated by V Prabhakaran.
It will no doubt be argued that in an asymmetrical war, the Sri Lankan Government is bound to take a few knocks from the Tigers. It will also be pointed out that the Sri Lankan Air Force has been pounding LTTE-dominated areas in the north with devastating results. So, the war against terror in that island nation is neither lost nor adversely affected by Monday's raid. Such post-facto rationalisation serves little purpose other than seeking to minimise the import of the incident. For, the LTTE has demonstrated that it is not impossible for a terrorist group to acquire aircraft and strike targets with amazing ease. It has also shown that for all the big talk over implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1373 - and, more important, monitoring its implementation - terrorist groups continue to have, or be allowed, access to military hardware. It appears that the aircraft in the LTTE's possession are of Czech origin. While it is possible that the aircraft may have been acquired from a third or fourth country, it is not impossible to track down the seller and impose penalties that would send out a message to other potential violators of Resolution 1373. Simultaneously, those who should be alarmed by Monday's tactical shift in terror strikes must now turn the screws on Governments, many of them in the West, that continue to take an indulgent view of the LTTE's depredations. The time for cutting a deal with Prabhakaran is long over. India must now take the lead in pushing for an all-out retaliation, if only to ensure that what happened near Colombo is not repeated in this country. To remain silent would be outright foolish.
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
Shoot them down before it's too late
Unlike their July 2001 suicide bombings at the Sri Lankan Air Force base adjacent to the international airport near Colombo, in which six civilian jetliners and more than a dozen military aircraft were destroyed, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on <b>Monday carried out a daring raid on the same base with the help of small aircraft. Reports emanating from Sri Lanka suggest that the LTTE used two small aircraft to drop four bombs on the base in the early hours of Monday, killing at least three Air Force personnel and injuring several others</b>. Although the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry has claimed that no aircraft was destroyed in the raid, reports suggest this is not quite true. Apart from causing damage and death, the air raid has shown up Sri Lanka's intelligence gathering system as extremely inefficient and the response time of its Air Force personnel as grossly inadequate. For many years speculation has been rife about the LTTE acquiring small aircraft to set up the 'Tamil Eelam Air Force'; strangely, the Sri Lankan Government, despite evidence about an air strip being built by the Tigers in the Northern Province, failed to take pre-emptive action. Worse, Air Force personnel on duty at the base on Sunday night virtually did nothing to either intercept or shoot down the aircraft although they were detected by the radar. Given the shoddy response of the Air Force, it is not surprising that foreign airlines should have decided to suspend operations to Sri Lanka for the time being. Meanwhile, having taken the Sri Lankan Air Force by surprise, the LTTE is feeling emboldened and triumphant enough to release photographs of the crew who flew the aircraft being congratulated by V Prabhakaran.
It will no doubt be argued that in an asymmetrical war, the Sri Lankan Government is bound to take a few knocks from the Tigers. It will also be pointed out that the Sri Lankan Air Force has been pounding LTTE-dominated areas in the north with devastating results. So, the war against terror in that island nation is neither lost nor adversely affected by Monday's raid. Such post-facto rationalisation serves little purpose other than seeking to minimise the import of the incident. For, the LTTE has demonstrated that it is not impossible for a terrorist group to acquire aircraft and strike targets with amazing ease. It has also shown that for all the big talk over implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1373 - and, more important, monitoring its implementation - terrorist groups continue to have, or be allowed, access to military hardware. It appears that the aircraft in the LTTE's possession are of Czech origin. While it is possible that the aircraft may have been acquired from a third or fourth country, it is not impossible to track down the seller and impose penalties that would send out a message to other potential violators of Resolution 1373. Simultaneously, those who should be alarmed by Monday's tactical shift in terror strikes must now turn the screws on Governments, many of them in the West, that continue to take an indulgent view of the LTTE's depredations. The time for cutting a deal with Prabhakaran is long over. India must now take the lead in pushing for an all-out retaliation, if only to ensure that what happened near Colombo is not repeated in this country. To remain silent would be outright foolish.
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