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TAMIL TIGERS NEWS
08 April 2007
Sri Lankan Navy
Destroys LTTE Ship
From correspondents in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's navy destroyed suspected Tamil
Tiger ship off the country's eastern coast Sunday, officials said.
The navy's off shore patrol vessels
detected a suspected vessel at around 2.30 a.m. about 36 km off Arugam Bay
and closed up for investigations, said the Media Center for National
Security.
The vessel carried no flag or mark of
identification and the details provided by the ship were false, so the
navy ordered it to stop for checking. The vessel refused to.
'The naval ships then fired warning shots
and the suspected vessel retaliated. The naval ships returned fire at
around 7.30 a.m. after confirmation the
suspected vessel was indeed carrying arms and explosives on board for the
LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam),' the statement said.
The vessel exploded and sank at around
9.05 a.m. amid huge explosions. The Sri Lanka Navy has in recent months
attacked several ships believed to be carrying arms for the LTTE.
Armed clashes since December 2005 have
claimed over 4,000 lives by official count, throwing into disarray the
Norwegian-backed peace process.
Taming the Tigers
(HT)
THE BLACK Tigers, as the LTTE's suicide
cadres are known, are prowling the Indian Ocean and a strike against
India's soft tar- gets cannot be ruled out. The perception that Sri Lankan
assets are the primary target of the terror outfit is somewhat flawed,
said a senior official of the Indian government. The seizure of four boats
off the Tamil Nadu coast during February 10-14, allegedly belonging to
LTTE and carrying deadly cargo, is a sure sign that India cannot brush
aside the threat from the Sea Tigers, the maritime arm of the LTTE, he
explained. The government has deployed additional as- sets in Palk Bay, an
1,800-nautical-mile zone, to reinforce Operation Tasha which was launched
by the Navy to protect the southern coast from infiltration by the LTTE.
It's no secret that the LTTE is developing its maritime capability at a
fast pace. But what is of greater concern to the government is the
outfit's focus on raising a fleet to carry out kamikaze missions. He said,
"There are specific intelligence inputs that the Sea Tigers have more than
20 vessels to carry out suicide strikes." Measuring about 22 metres, the
LTTE's suicide boats are said to be operated by four Sea Tigers at a time.
The feared Black Tigers usually make the final assault from the craft. The
Coast Guard has stepped up aerial sur- veillance on the Indian side of the
maritime boundary to stave off the LTTE threat. Last month Defence
minister AK Antony said, "There was a time when land borders were
paramount. But in the emerging scenario, maritime security is equally
critical." He also focused on the need to refine the intelligence
gathering mechanism. The Coast Guard, which is the lead intelligence
agency for coastal borders, has set up two new stations at Kakinada and
Pondicherry to bridge gaps in surveillance along the eastern coast. It has
also mapped out a plan to rope in the fishing community to ensure that
small dinghies and craft cannot be used to land contraband.
The Terrorists’ Threat
(HT)
I THINK LIKE a terrorist," says the
security official, reaching out for his third cup of coffee. "It will all
become crystal clear" He briskly moves an inverted pencil across a map on
the table: "Here. Here. Here. Here. Our top security establishments. Here,
look at these narrow creeks that lead up to this complex. A small boat can
slide in, almost invisible, taking a couple of men with a rocket launcher.
A short walk. And boom." Fifteen hundred kilometres to the south, there is
actually such a place off Mumbai. A narrow channel from the sea, navigable
by small boats, leads to a landing point. It is not too far from the climb
to the Trombay Peak, which has three vital installations close by - the
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the BPCL oil refinery, and a container
port. Authorities secured the peak a few years ago. But along the
sprawling coastline, much of India's territory and assets are unprotected
from what is expected to be the next staging ground of terrorism- the sea.
Last week, defence minister AK Antony told
Parliament there were intelligence reports that militants were planning
attacks a statement that was provoked by information that Lashkar-e-Toiba
and Jaish-e-Mohammed were planning to bring in weapons through the sea, a
security official said. If that is true, the mind-boggling logistics make
the task of preventing it seemingly impossible. The coastline of mainland
India stretches for more than 5,400 kilometres, apart from about 2,100
kilometres of shores on more than 1,190 islands. There are 13 major ports
and 185 minor ones; there are high security installations like space
centres and missile testing sites, oil refineries, nuclear research
facilities and naval bases. There are also narrow channels, inlets,
desolate landing points and maze-like creeks where boats can land and
disappear in stealth. Satellite images cannot make out suspect boats from
others. "The sea is a dark area of
India's intelligence gathering system. It did not get a priority because our
bread-and-butter was something else," said MK Dhar, former joint director
of the Intelligence Bureau. "You can't make sense of coastal security when
the logistics are almost non-existent." Vice-Admiral KK Nayyar, chairman
of the National Maritime Foundation, warns of threats emanating from
'flags of convenience' ships registered in
Panama or Liberia. Talking of the global
nature of the threat, he says, "If terrorists blow a hole in an oil tanker
passing the Straits of Hormuz or Malacca, a direct fallout would be a
steep increase in oil prices and ship insurance." But tell-tale signs of
the threat have been piling up closer home.
ASSESSING THE 'CREDIBLE THREAT' At the
Cochin port in 1993, the crackling voice of a ship captain announced on
the wireless that he was carrying a consignment of AK-47 rifles for the
Indian government from a Russian company The defence ministry did not know
of any such order, and it was traced back to a man who had met the
company's officials in Moscow pretending to be a ministry official. No one
finally turned up to take the guns. In 2002, the Bangladeshi authorities
at Chittagong made a major arms seizure. Security officials say it was
linked to India. "We suspect that the weapons were meant for militants in the
north-east," says Hormis Tharakan, who recently retired as chief of the
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). A1 Qaeda has had limited success so far
on the maritime front. The group tried in the past to set up a sea attack
unit, but were slowed down two years ago when its maritime wing head Al-Masiri
was arrested. Still, the apprehensions are acquiring a sense of urgency.
Last month, the main training journal of the Al Qaeda - Mu'askar alBattar
- exhorted its followers to carry out maritime terror attacks in the
region.
The Institute for Analysis of Global
Safety, a Washington-based organisation focusing on energy security, says
terrorists are increasingly looking at striking at oil and gas
installations. In India, if there is a single point where such fears have
converged, it is the Bombay High, India's largest offshore oilfield
located off the Mumbai coast. "If operatives of a terror group are on a
kamikaze mission, the oilfield will be history," says Admiral Arun Prakash,
who retired as navy chief last November B. Raman, former RAW additional
secretary and a counter-terrorism analyst, recounts that in 1992, a
militant from the Babbar Khalsa group allegedly told the police during his
interrogation that during his training in Pakistan, he was asked to join
the Mumbai Flying Club, take a solo flight and crash his aircraft into the
Bombay High. Sam Bateman of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies
in Singapore says that apart from those scenarios, "in the longer term,
presumably there will be more nuclear installations requiring security".
But for now, international attention is on the containers that carry 90
per cent of the world's trade.
The US has launched a transcontinent
Container Security Initiative, which entails the screening of containers
at foreign ports before they are brought to the US. Officials from the US
held talks in India last week to push the project. Some exporters say
there might be no other way "The US has moved ahead, and looking at the
present scenario I think there should also be checks of containers coming
to India from foreign ports," says Subhash Mittal of the Federation of
Indian Export Organisations, who was part of last week's talks. Undersea
cables, that form the backbone of India's Internet connectivity, are
another vulnerable asset. "What makes it of greater concern is that they
are in the open sea. If someone wants to get at them, frankly, it is not
that difficult," says Kiran Karnik, head of the National Association of
Software and Service Companies. He adds: "It is not a topof-the-mind
concern yet." Maritime terrorism certainly does not seem top-of-the-mind
for governments. No wonder the navy describes the scenario in the Indian
Ocean Region as "fragile peace". GUARDING THE ASSETS The National
Democratic Alliance government launched an ambitious coastal security plan
that would give large vessels and other equipment to state police forces,
and help set up coastal police stations. The states are responsible for
the security of the coastal expanse up to the maritime boundary. It was to
be implemented first in Gujarat and Kerala. But the project never took off. The Coastal Security Scheme
was revived in 2005 by the current government, which promised to spend Rs
372 crore in five years. However, only Rs 13 crore was released in
2005-06, and Rs 10 crore last year, according to the defence ministry In
the first year, critical areas such as Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep,
Pondicherry and Daman and Diu got no money at all. But some steps are
being taken. India is seeking a
port facility at the Sittwe estuary in Myanmar for better surveillance.
The Coast Guard has increased its presence in the region. India has also
signed a treaty with 13 other countries to share information and fight
piracy in Asia. The strengthening of radar
surveillance is being considered. "All that will help, but we have to make
our moves fast, because the mathematics of this game is against us," said
the security official in New Delhi, making an invisible circle over the
Bay of Bengal. "The sea does offer one comfort, though - unless you want
to give up your life, it is hard to get away"
ATTACK SCENARIOS Terrorists launch bomb
attacks on passenger ships, in which the fire started by the explosion
causes most deaths. A frightening example was the sinking of Superferryl4
in the Philippines in 2004, where 110 died MA powerful bomb blows a hole
in an oil tanker, leading to a cyclical impact that sharply raises oil
prices and ship msurance MA militant rams an explosives-laden speed boat
into a ship, as was done on USS Cole and Limburg a Floating sea mines or
their threat in a narrow strait forces ships to change their routes to
longer and costlier ones MA ship carrying a dangerous substance - like
industrial chemicals - is seized and used as a drifting bomb, to be blown
up at a port M An underwater swimmer sets off an explosion below a ship or
a port
SUEZ CANAL The canal, which opened the
shortest route from the West to India in the 19th century, is an area of
international security concern
THE INTERNET Undersea cables, which enable
India's Internet connectivity, are vulnerable. They connect millons of
users, as well as help pass crucial information
OIL ASSETS Oil rigs are a vulnerable
target. Bombay High, India's largest offshore oilficid, is a possible
target of militants, security experts say
DEFENCE TECHNOLOGIES Satellites, listening
devices and radars are being used to try and prevent terror attacks SEA
TIGERS The LTTE is reported to have mini submarines. Its sea wing has
carried out several attacks TRADE ROUTES Thanks to China's appetite, a
quarter of the world's trade passes through the Malacca Strait, where
survoillance is lax and piracy is rampant
NUCLEAR PLANTS Security has been
heightened at Indian nuclear installations close to the coast, like the
Bhabha Atornic Research Centre in Trornbay ENERGY ASSETS Refineries along
the coast, which provide rnore than a third of India's oil, are at risk
and their security has been strengthened 00 0 00 FM MARW ARM fiRAN January
2002: AI Qaeda attempts to ram an explosives-laden boat into USS The
Sullivans off Yomen coast. The attack fails as the boat sinks under the
weight of its payload October 2000: Suicide bombers from Al Qaeda blow a
hole in the USS Cole, killing 17 sailors 2002: The Moroccan government
arrests Ai Qaeda operatives suspected of plotting raids on British and
American tankers passing the Strait of
Gibraltar. A group of Saudis is also arrested for plotting to sabotage the
world's largest offshore oil loading facility, Ras Tanura, through which a
third of Saudi oil flows October 2002: A boat carrying explosive cargo
hits French oil tanker Limburg off the Yomen coast February 2004: The
southern Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf claims responsibility for an
explosion on a vessel that leaves 100 dead April 2004: Suicide bombers
blow themselves up around the heavilyguarded Basra terminal. A month
later, extremists kill 22 foreign oil workers in the Saudi city of
Khobar. Leftist rebels in Colombia
puncture the 480-mile Cano Limon-Covena pipeline so many times that it
earns the epithet of 'The Flute' 2006: Narcotics valued at over Rs 238
crore seized by the Indian Coast Guard over the year. Three smuggling
boats and 48 crewmembers are apprehended February 2007: The coast Guard
intercepts an LTTE boat off Tamil Nadu coast carrying a cargo of suicide
jackets, plastic explosives, AK rifles and live ammunition. The navy
seizes 100 kg of explosives off Rameshwaram |
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