SLA, SLN conduct joint war rehearsals in Jaffna seas

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 02:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) sailors from Karainagar Naval base and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers stationed along the northern coastal areas, have been jointly conducting large scale war exercises in the seas off the coast of Jaffna peninsula in Valigaamam North High security Zone (HSZ) for the past few days supported by attack air crafts of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), civil sources in Jaffna said.

Attack air crafts and bombers of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Dvora boats of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) were involved in this exercise aimed at as a show of strength of the military might of Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE).

SLN boats were anchored in the seas of Kankeasanthurai (KKS), Mayiliddy, Maathagal and Valveddithurai (VVT) during the exercise. Already there is a ban on fishing in these areas and as such there were no movement of any fishing boats in the region during the war rehearsal.

Meanwhile, intense gunfire has been reported during day and night in the seas off Thondaimaanaaru, in the area between Idaikkaadu and Mayiliddy.

Deafening noise from the artillery barrage reverberated across the peninsula, according to local residents.

A similar exercise was conducted prior to the April attack in Mukamaalai Forward Defence Lines (FDL) and the current war exercise may be a prelude to such attack in the near future, the residents said.

The exercises are being held to also showcase maritime strength of the armed forces along northern coasts to prevent attempts by LTTE to land along the coastal areas, and to strengthen the HSZ along the coast, local residents added.