October 26, 2007:
Unique in
the field of special operations are the "Black Tigers" of the separatist LTTE
rebels in Sri Lanka. A force of about two dozen of these commandos raided the
heavily guarded Anuradhapura air base, 170 kilometers north of the capital, on
October 22nd, killing 14 air force personnel, and destroying eight aircraft
(two MI-24 helicopter gunships, one Beechcraft 200 HISAR naval reconnaissance
aircraft, three PT-6 trainers, one K-8 trainer and one Mi-17 transport
helicopter). Eight other aircraft were damaged, but repairable. Nearly all (21)
of the Black Tigers were killed in what the LTTE declared a successful
operation.
The reason for the LTTE
attitude was that one of the aircraft destroyed, the Beechcraft 200 HISAR, was
largely responsible for destroying most of the LTTE "navy" of small gunboats
and transports that kept the LTTE force in Sri Lanka going, by smuggling in
weapons and munitions. The Sri Lankan air force got the Beechcraft 200 HISAR five
years ago, and since then the LTTE has been having a much more difficult time
moving supplies in by sea. The Beechcraft 200 HISAR can also be used to search
for LTTE camps on land, and this has kept the dozen or so bombers of the air
force busy. Thus this one raid has greatly reduced the reconnaissance
capabilities of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Before the raid, the situation
looked very bleak for the LTTE, but now the LTTE has a chance to rebuild,
unless the government quickly replaces the recon aircraft.
The Black Tigers have been an
elite force of suicide bombers for over twenty
years. In that time, they have lost about 350 men and women while
carrying out suicide attacks. There have been about fifty such attacks in the
last year. There are only a few hundred people in the Black Tiger organization.
The Black Tiger suicide bombers are carefully selected, highly motivated and
well trained, enabling them to get to heavily guarded targets. The preparations
for each attack are extensive. The LTTE will sometimes even conduct research to
see what types of bombs work best. In one case, a live dog and goat were
strapped into the front seat of a car, and then exposed to a bomb blast in the
car to see if the bomb had enough force to kill. The bombers themselves undergo
months of training and dry runs before they are turned loose with a live bomb.
The two dozen Black Tigers
that attacked the heavily guarded Anuradhapura air base (north of the capital,
far from the LTTE base areas) apparently planned their attack carefully, and
carried it out successfully, despite the knowledge that few, if any, of them
would come back. People around the air base remembered seeing some the Black
Tigers before the attack. And the raid was coordinated with an aerial attack by
two of the single engine commercial aircraft the LTTE uses as improvised
bombers. The pre-dawn raid took the air force guards by surprise, and was over
quickly, mainly because the raiders went straight for their objectives (the
aircraft, especially the Beechcraft radar plane), regardless of losses. The air
force security personnel had to kill all the raiders to halt the destruction of
aircraft. In response, the Sri Lankan military are again revising their
security measures, sure that they will have to deal with the Black Tigers
again.