Mo
Ran Bong the North Korean ship which was attaked in the North Eastern waters in
July
It was well past 2.30 a.m. last Tuesday when the LTTE radio
crackled. Soosai, the leader of its naval arm, Sea Tigers, gave a frantic
message in Tamil to his cadres in the seas off Pulmoddai: "Navy ships
spotted in the vicinity. Do maximum possible damage and withdraw"
That message literally meant an order to abort mission. It was to seize the 30,000 ton 'MV Cordialite', a Chinese owned vessel flying the Panamanian flag, hold its crew hostage and move it to the waters off the shores of Chalai, just north of Mullaitivu. A repeat of what they did to the North Korean vessel 'Mo Ran Bong' in July, this year.
A flotilla of Sea Tiger boats, in four groups, including suicide cadres, surrounded 'MV Cordialite', which had weighed anchor one and half kilometres away from a small pier at Pulmoddai. From here civilian workers who worked in shifts loaded ilmenite to barges and moved them to the ship. They were on their 16th day. There were some 60 men on board and another 70 in the barges. Sri Lanka Army's Special Forces Three Battalion, were tasked to guard the ship. Five special forces men were on board. Four Fibre Glass Dinghies (FGDs) of the SBS, patrolled the waters around the cargo vessel.
Around ten LTTE boats carrying heavily armed cadres surrounded "MV Cordialite" Two groups of Tiger guerrillas, some carrying Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), and estimated to be around 15, boarded the vessel. Many walked the accommodation ladder. Others threw ropes with grapnel to the deck from different directions of the ship and climbed whilst men in boats gave cover.
The attackers moved to different points after arriving on the deck. The presence of the soldiers aboard took them by surprise. A fire fight broke out. Tiger guerrillas fired RPGs setting ablaze the engine room. One soldier fell dead. Some crew members and civilian workers jumped overboard.
As panic reigned, Tiger guerrillas fired more RPG shells and began to retreat. The attack which began around 1.20 a.m had gone on for well over one and half hours. The SF3 base at Pulmoddai saw the night sky being lit up by the inferno. The base had lost all radio contact with men on the FGBs and those on board.
They radioed the main operations room of the Sri Lanka Navy's Eastern Command at the Dockyard in Trincomalee. Throughout that night, Navy officials had been busy with another task. Under radio silence, they had assigned three Dvoras and two gun boats to intercept LTTE boat movements off the shores of Kokilai. From late Monday night it had continued with the Navy sinking two LTTE boats. Orders went for the Naval craft to immediately rush to Pulmoddai, a matter of ten minutes. Sea Tiger re-inforcements that were off the shores south of Kokilai had spotted the movement of the Navy flotilla.
That was how the frantic orders went out from Soosai to cause maximum damage and withdraw. The Dvoras and the gunboats that arrived at the scene formed a virtual cordon in the high seas, almost surrounding 'MV Cordialite'
Officers and men on board were unaware of exactly what had gone on in the cargo vessel. They saw it ablaze. There were fears that attempts may be made by suicide cadres to move the burning ship towards the Trincomalee harbour.
Orders went out to open fire if they observed any movements of the ship. So the Navy Dvoras and Gun Boats spent the wee hours of the morning observing what was going on and reporting events to the Operations Room.
As dawn broke on Tuesday, a clearer picture began to emerge. Of the four SF3 Fibre Glass Dinghies, one had returned to base with three soldiers on board. Three other soldiers had swum ashore. Navy men picked up another FGB minus the machine gun and the outboard motor mounted on it. Two FGDs and six soldiers were missing.
Whilst making a hasty retreat, Tiger cadres had rounded up 18 Tamil civilian workers and carried them in their boats. They were dropped in the seas off Kokilai. Only 13 swam back to the Army Camp there. The fate of the remaining five were not known.
It is immediately not clear whether they were taken captive and shot dead, but the LTTE handed over the bodies of four soldiers to the ICRC officials in Mullaitivu. Mistaking them to be Navy men, the ICRC initially wanted to hand over the bodies to the Navy's newly established North Central Command (Norcencom) in Vavuniya. However, it was later handed over to the Army. As the drama ended, ten were killed (six soldiers, four civilians) and 19 were missing in action (seven soldiers, five crew members and five civilians).
'MV Cordialite' was to leave Pulmoddai that Tuesday with a load of 30,000 tons of ilmenite. When the incident occurred, 27,350 tons worth Rs 89 million had been loaded. The remaining quantity was to be loaded that Tuesday morning. The consignment has been purchased by an American company and was destined for Rotterdam.
The cargo vessel is owned by Hong Kong based Chinese Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) and had been on charter to Dyoo Line of South Korea. As is customary, there had been an on board party on Monday night on 'MV Cordialite' which was to set sail the next day. It had, however, ended and senior crew members were resting when the attack came.
With the help of the Sri Lanka Navy, Zhang, Yihua, First Secretary, Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Officer of the Chinese Embassy and another official visited Pulmoddai to determine what had happened. The super structure of 'MV Cordialite' is said to have been badly burnt out and damaged. Efforts are now being made to tow the vessel to Trincomalee to drain out the water. This has become a priority since there are fears that some bodies may be trapped in the engine room.
This is the second time the LTTE attacked a cargo vessel that had come in to load ilmenite. The first was on a Japanese cargo vessel two years ago. In a statement issued from its 'International Secretariat in London', the LTTE claimed responsibility for the attack. It seemed to suggest that LTTE attacks on cargo vessels in the seas off north and east would continue.
The LTTE said: "The ilmenite mineral sands of Pulmoddai are one of the principal natural resources found within the limits of Tamil Eelam. What rightfully belongs to the region is being systematically plundered by the Sinhala government to sell abroad at a higher price. The proceeds are being used to purchase arms and ammunition for the destruction of the Tamil people. This injustice cannot be permitted to continue. Under the above circumstances we were forced to attack and destroy the cargo ship, which was loading the said ilmenite mineral sands.
"What we did should not be construed as an act of hostility directed towards any particular trade or shipping organisation. Neither should it be inferred as an act prejudicial to international trade or shipping. We undertook the confrontation to prevent the removal and sale of our resources and to beat the war strategy of the Sri Lankan Government.
"The fact of our having attacked and damaged another ship in the same area loading the same mineral sands on a previous occasion is well known to the world at large. The Sri Lankan Government did not heed our warning. On the contrary, it had continued the practice with military protection. Commandos were placed on board the cargo ship and naval fast attack crafts and Dvora gunboats were on the sea surrounding the said cargo ship. We broke through this cordon and boarded the cargo ship. Some foreign and local shipping hands died in the ensuing firefight. We deeply regret that these lives were lost in this manner. A war rages on the sea and on the land. The robbery of our natural resources by the relentless enemy cannot be permitted. We are unavoidably compelled to take certain protective measures for the safety and well-being of our land and of our nation".
Mining and export of ilmenite at Pulmoddai is carried out by Lanka Mineral Sands Ltd, precursor to the earlier Ceylon Mineral Sands Corporation. With 430 employees on its payroll, the company made a net profit of Rs 450 million last year. This is despite the interruption of their normal schedule due to unsettled conditions posed by the ongoing separatist war.
"If the LTTE's claim of responsibility is an insult, the implied threat of future attacks is an injury", said a western diplomat commenting on last week's incident. He said the move would have far reaching repercussions since many Governments would not only condemn the act but call for joint retaliatory measures if threats to their commercial interests persisted.
The coming weeks will see their formal responses. The 'MV Cordialite' incident came as the ongoing 'Operation Jaya Sikurui' entered its fourth month or more precisely the 124th day today. For well over three weeks, the strategic junction of Puliyankulam along the A9, the main highway through Vavuniya to Kilinochchi, becomes the major obstacle to the troop advance. It is here that phase one of the operation was originally intended to end. However, troops from the 55 Division (moving on the A9 axis) and 53 (moving south westerly from the east) linked up some three kilometres south of Puliyankulam. Heavy resistance from the LTTE slowed the troops advance. They moved to within a kilometre of the junction. Last week, commandos of the 53 Division advanced northwards from a point between Puliyankulam and Nedunkerny. They fought fierce battles to re-capture a five kilometre stretch and then cut in westwards to reach the highway. They were holding more than 500 yards of the highway north of the Puliyankulam junction with troops from the 55 division poised for a link up.
On Tuesday, LTTE launched a counter attack on the middle of the advancing 53 Division. In two days of fighting 22 soldiers were killed and over 230 were wounded. Military officials said yesterday there were signs that the LTTE was making a withdrawal from their heavily fortified positions in Puliyankulam.
This, however, cannot be independently confirmed. The Sri Lanka Air Force support to the ongoing 'Operation Jaya Sikurui' suffered another setback on Friday. A Hind Mi 24, the only remaining operational gunship from a fleet the purchase of which is now the subject of an investigation, was hit by LTTE small arms fire. The incident occurred outside the defended areas in Puliyankulam.
Senior SLAF officials wanted it known that the MI 24 landed within the defended areas. But it was well outside and troops from the 53 Division took nearly an hour to secure the area. SLAF technicians arrived to repair a hydraulic leak caused by the firing and brought the helicopter to Vavuniya. It was later flown to Anuradhapura.
That was not the only problem for the SLAF which has come under severe criticism in the recent months. Troop movements in SLAF aircraft has come to a virtual standstill with the only operational AN 32 due for overhaul. The Chinese built Shaanxi Y 8 came out of the hangar after repairs last week but is doing sorties carrying only cargo. The main focus of national concern in the past nearly four months,
'Operation Jaya Sikurui', no longer attracts the same zeal since it has slowed down due to self imposed attrition. To the media, it is old hat except to see the tragedy of war and the loss of human lives with no political or military solution in sight. As repeatedly emphasised in these columns, LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, cramped for space, has moved his strategic options to other targets which would hurt the Government. The 'MV Cordialite' incident and the LTTE statement clearly manifests this shift. With the hostility of the international fora to terrorism and the threat of the LTTE being branded as a terrorist organisation has restricted the choice of civilian targets for attack. The LTTE learned this lesson with the Central Bank bombing. Though that type of irrational offensives cannot be totally excluded, the LTTE must recognise the backlash of such actions. In these circumstances, they are falling back to economic targets is obvious option.
There is international commercial significance in the eastern coast belt from Trincomalee to Pulmoddai. This coastal strip has many industries which are very important to the domestic economy. The entire flour requirements of the country is milled at the Prima Flour Milling Complex in Trincomalee. There is regular movement of cargo vessels bringing in wheat grain from abroad as well as local cargo vessels moving flour stocks to other parts of the country. Another is Tokyo Cement which manufactures a substantial volume for the local market. Ships arrive regularly in Trincomalee with loads of clinker.
Quite apart from existing industry, the Trincomalee area has attracted considerable international interest with at least one multi billion dollar project in the pipeline. The strategic importance of the harbour for commercial development of the hinterland is a significant feature. With the LTTE threat to international shipping carrying resources the LTTE claims to be 'Eelam property' now throws open the question of international confidence for development in the eastern province, at least for the moment.
If this threat level increases, then any re-assurance to the international community will have to be through either military successes combined with a political process or a political process which will eliminate the existing situation. Thus the ball, at least in this aspect, is at square one. The 'MV Cordialite' incident highlights the fact that the Tiger guerrillas have to do very little to blow up a situation beyond all proportions into one of considerable magnitude. This is the biggest threat to all Governments facing threats of terrorism and civil strife. To a Government which has gone past its mid-term in office and is under pressure to deliver its promises, the new economic threat can be a looming problem.
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