Prabakaran using a Armoured Personal Carrier?

was reading the ‘Situation Report ‘ by Iqba Athas on Sunday Times of 16th March 2008 , on the events relation to the death and funeral of TNA MP Mr.Sivanesan and to quote Iqbal Athas;

” On Saturday morning, the body of Mr Sivanesan was taken from Kilinochchi to his home town of Mallavi. Thereafter, it was taken from village to village including Puthukudiyiruppu and Mullaitivu. Around 5.30 p.m. it was brought to the Kalachara Mandapam (Cultural Hall) in Kilinochchi for the public to pay their respects. Around 8.30 p.m. it was removed from there.

At the same time, members of the family of late Mr. Sivanesan, his wife, four children and the 13 MPs were transported in a vehicle to a location outside Kilinochchi. The journey had lasted almost an hour. There, they were ushered inside a building. Around 10.30 p.m. those inside heard the loud roar of the engine of a vehicle. They were not sure whether it was a Jeep or a coach. Moments later, they saw armed men walking in. [emphasis mine]

First to walk in thereafter was the head of LTTE intelligence Pottu Amman (Shivshankar) followed by the leader of the Political Wing (and former guerrilla “Police Chief”) Nadesan (Balasingham Mahendran). Thereafter, Tamilendhi, the head of Finance Wing and LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran followed. At least one TNA parliamentarian said his eyes “immediately focused on LTTE leader’s leg to see whether he had been injured or was using an artificial leg. He walked normal.”

point “those inside heard the loud roar of the engine of a vehicle. They were not sure whether it was a Jeep or a coach” captured my imagination and come to think of it , Jeeps and Coaches ,however badly maintained don’t do a laud roar. even if that’s the case one cant believe Prabakaran is using such a beat up vehicle, considering the accounts by people who were close to him and also by the nature of luxury and exotic merchandise used by Prabakaran which were later captured by Security Forces in the past.

so what is it then , that brought Prabakaran to this ‘secret’ venue?

 i think with the increased LRRP and dissident LTTE attacks against the LTTE targets in Vanni has forced Prabakaran to abandon his entourage of Pajero/Prado jeeps and use a armoured vehicle. LTTE has over the years captured number of APCs (Armoured Personal Carrier/wheeled) and even a couple of IFVs ( Infantry Fighting Vehicle/Tracked) from the Security Forces and it may be the fact that they have mustard one of them as Prabakarans means of transport.

APCs/IFVs offer a relative amount of protection from landmine/claymore mine explosions and they are also quite reliable when it comes to negotiating off road/difficult terrain conditions and even has the capability of fording limited depths.plus they support comms/command control gear so its a very versatile option as a mobile command platform while offering armoured protection too.

Security Forces top brass do use APCs for VVIP transport and also as command vehicles most of the time and its quite possible that the LTTE is using the same tactics now , not only in order to transport Prabakaran but also as mobile command post , thus preventing a security risk of having him visiting one or few command centres .

over the time Sri Lanka Army and Navy has lost few APCs of different types including Buffels , Unicorns and Saracens , and even a couple of late modle BTRs. also some people say we have lost few IFVs including the Chinese made ones and a Russian BMP.event though the military claim most of these captured assets were destroyed by areal attacks we experianced the LTTE using captured T-55 from Elephant Pass , against a Navy Dovra in the 1990s.

although the possibility of use of the captured T-55 is very marginal considering its cumbersome maintenance and steady stream of spare parts , use of APCs or IFVs is quite high. hence i think the Military establishment should spend some time on this as if Prabakaran is really using such an armoured vehicle it will much more easy for a LRRP unit or a Jet to pick this target .

since there are more specialised and not so complicated ways of taking out a armored vehicle and also having being able to ID using thermal imaging with its distinctive thermal signature , Prabakaran traveling in a armoured vehicle will be a rich picking .

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