A'Pura attack reactions from Colombo and more news

Govt. says eight aircraft destroyed
A’pura attack not a defeat for military, no one will resign:PM

By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera

Amidst conflicting information about the destruction caused to the Anuradhapura air base, the Government yesterday told Parliament that only eight aircraft were destroyed in the LTTE attack and one craft badly damaged.
Making a special statement to the House, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said that the aircraft destroyed were an MI 24, a Beechcraft, three BT6 aircraft, one K8 aircraft, one MI 17 aircraft and a Bell 212 aircraft.
On Monday the Government said only three aircraft were destroyed, but the main Opposition UNP claimed in Parliament on Wednesday that 18 aircraft had been destroyed and the total loss estimated at US $ 439 million.
Mr. Wickramanayake said that one MI 24 air craft had been badly damaged. The Prime Minister said that this was the reality.
“We are sure that our military officials will learn a lesson from this attack which occurred on Monday, and make future plans in the fight against terrorism. We always learn through experience,” he said.
However, Mr. Wickremanayake said this attack was not a defeat inflicted on the security forces at all.
He said that the Government forces gained a series of military victories in the recent past including the liberation of the East.
“Terrorism cannot be defeated merely by demanding the resignation of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Air Force Chief Roshan Gunatilake from their office. We have to deviate from petty political goals in this exercise,” he said.
He said the situation in Anuradhapura had been brought to normalcy.
He also said they were all indebted to the security forces engaged in a struggle, at the cost of their lives, to protect the nation from terrorism.

President says an attack cannot bring him down

President Mahinda Rajapksa said yesterday that a bomb attack on a camp or an airport could not bring him down. "The liberation of the people depends on the defeat of the LTTE. We will do it. It cannot be stopped by anybody. We are committed to eradicating terrorism from this country," he said.
The President said that the public should also be vigilant. "I have said earlier, too, that a few Tigers could do the sort of damage that was done in Anuradhapura. Just the army and the police cannot be sufficiently vigilant about these. They need the support of the public. The public should keep their eyes open.
But some people do not like this. Some think that if they come and attack and go this government will fall. That is wrong. The people should keep their eyes open."
He said: "Forget about politics. First think about the country. Some people were happy on that day. Some leaders spoke with happiness. Some people who were listening had told them not to speak like that. We do not carry out these operations against the people."
"We have not been idling. We liberated Silawatura. Now we have commenced operations in the Wanni. If we are attacked we will also attack. We went for attack after being patient for a long time and reached the end of our patience. We attacked only after the problem could not be solved through discussions. They sabotaged all the discussions."
"A radio station broadcast yesterday that seven, ten -- and then twenty -- had died in a Tiger attack in Tissamaharama. Sometimes the media acts without responsibility. They don't think about the country. Some people are ready to direct the media according to the political agendas of their relatives. Therefore the media should act with responsibility.
"I am still saying clearly that we are being patient. These are not problems; do not be afraid. We do not panic. But there is a limit to everything. Do not exceed the limit. Do not engage in false propaganda to incite the people. We cannot allow that. Some time ago they were put in prison for misleading the people.
"Some say there is no media freedom. But what happened? The media acted like juveniles. It is a sorry state of affairs. Please act with responsibility. I request you to think about the motherland."

Basil on Anuradhapura attack
By Sandun A Jayasekera
All airplanes and helicopters damaged and destroyed in Monday's LTTE attack on the Anuradhapura airbase will be replaced shortly with the help of friendly countries, said senior presidential advisor Basil Rajapaksa yesterday.
A number of countries had already made inquiries from the government to assist in this regard, Mr. Rajapaksa told the Daily Mirror
Declining, for obvious reasons, to disclose the names of the countries that had come forward to help the government, he said the government was determined not to let the Anuradhapura attack affect the war effort and that it would replenish all the aircraft sooner rather than later.
Not ruling out the possibility of using the US$ 500 million loan the government intends to obtain from a banking consortium headed by HSBC, Mr. Rajapaksa said: "The war against the LTTE must be given the priority over all other business of the government".
There will be more attacks on sensitive locations in the country because the LTTE is seeking its goal. These attacks cannot be prevented until the LTTE is defeated comprehensively. The people must realize this and be vigilant all the time. The security forces and the people must not be complacent for a moment, he said.
He added that an internal investigation was in progress, in addition to the police and CID investigations, to ascertain whether there was inside help in the Anuradhapura attack. He said that making a complete assessment of the financial setback was impossible as the contribution those helicopters and airplanes made to the war effort was immeasurable.===============
New military aircraft to be purchased
By Sunil Jayasiri
The National Security Council which met on Wednesday, just days after the Air Force lost eight aircraft in the LTTE attack on the Anuradhapura air base, decided to immediately purchase a number of new military aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force.
A top military official told the Daily Mirror the attack on the air base was discussed in depth at the weekly Security Council meeting attended by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wikcrmenyake, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Air Force Chief Roshan Goonetilake, Chief of Defence Staff Donald Perera, Police Chief Victor Perera and several other defence ministry officials.
The Air Force Chief presented a detail report to the NSC about the LTTE’s Black Tiger attack on the base and informed the council members the attack did not have an impact on the capability of the Air Force.
He stressed the necessity of surveillance aircraft as well as MI-24 combat helicopters and in response it is learnt that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had directed the Defence Ministry to purchase the required aircraft on a priority basis.
The Security Council members also discussed the future security arrangements at all Air Force bases including other security establishments as well.
In Monday’s predawn LTTE attack on the A’pura air base, a Beach craft, two Mi-24 helicopter gunship, a Mi-17 transport helicopter, K-8 and PT6 trainer jets, Cessna 150 aircraft, a Bell 212 helicopter and three Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were destroyed.

REFILE-Sri Lanka says certain air space vulnerable from rebels
Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:34am EDT(Corrects spelling of vulnerable in first paragraph)

COLOMBO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Certain areas of Sri Lankan air space are vulnerable, an official said on Friday, four days after Tamil Tiger rebels mounted their biggest-ever operation against a government airbase.
Air Force Commander Roshan Goonetileke told journalists on Friday it will take some time to establish an air defence system for Sri Lanka, and until that happens, certain areas are vulnerable to attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"Certain areas are vulnerable and certain areas are not vulnerable. From whatever (systems) we have, we have protected certain places. But we can't protect the whole of Sri Lanka until we get (what) we want," said Goonetileke, adding that vital areas are now protected. Monday's rebel assault on an air force base in the northern district of Anuradhapura killed 14 service personnel and damaged several aircraft. The military said 21 rebels also died during the operation.
"Our attack capability has not been reduced in any way, but we are hoping to replace the aircraft we lost in double quick time," Goonetileke said.
The military said six soldiers were killed on Friday in an accidental explosion of a land mine laid by suspected Tiger rebels in the northern district of Vavuniya.
"Troops handling a land mine in Kalmadu area in Vavuniya accidentally exploded and six soldiers were killed," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.
The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the fighting and there were no independent accounts of what had happened or how many people were killed.
Military analysts say both sides tend to exaggerate enemy losses and play down their own.
The fighting in the north, where a new chapter of a two-decade civil war is now focused after troops drove the Tigers from their bastions in the east of the island, comes after the military said dozens of Tigers were killed in heavy clashes in the north last week.
An estimated 5,000 people have been killed since early last year in the renewed fighting, taking the death toll since the conflict erupted in 1983 to around 70,000.
While the government has had the upper hand in recent months, analysts say there is no clear winner on the horizon and fear the conflict could rumble on for years.
Counter-terrorism experts say there is no military solution to Sri Lanka's protracted conflict, and say the only hope is for both sides to reach a long-elusive political settlement.

Sri Lanka air capability not affected by rebel attack
Sri Lankan air force's air capability has not been affected by the Monday's attack carried out by the Tamil Tigers, chief of Sri Lanka Air Force said on Friday.
"Our capability has not been reduced in any way", Air Marshal Roshan Goonatilleke, the Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force told reporters.
The Sri Lankan government on Thursday said that some eight aircraft were damaged by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) rebel attack on the air base at the north central town of Anuradhapura in the early hours of Monday.
Goonatilleke said the Air Force's loss as a result of the attack was valued 15 million U.S. dollars.
He said the government's air defense system set up since the Tiger rebels first used their air capability late March was yet at an early stage of the process.
"We have taken action rapidly to set up the system, to set up a proper system it takes 5-6 years", the Air Force chief said.
Sri Lanka Air Force's Kfir and MiG fighter bombers have been constantly taking up rebel positions since the conflict escalated since the end of 2005.
Source: Xinhua

Sri Lanka probes public display of naked rebel bodies
Fri Oct 26, 5:10 AM ET

Sri Lanka has ordered a high-level probe into a public display of the naked bodies of Tamil Tiger rebels who devastated a key air force base earlier this week, officials said Friday.
Two tractors pulled trailers loaded with the stripped corpses and mutilated body parts from the base to Anuradhapura hospital, 210 kilometres (130 miles) north of here and stopped on the way for residents to photograph the gory sight.
"The president has ordered a full-scale inquiry while the DIG (deputy inspector general of police) is conducting an investigation," defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters.
"We don't want to humiliate dead people," said Rambukwella.
Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara, however, insisted the bodies were only stripped of their suicide bomb jackets and other armaments to prevent people handling them from getting injured.
"They were wearing camouflaged clothes, suicide jackets, which had to be removed for safety of others who were handling them like those transporting, the hospital staff, who would have been in danger," Nanayakkara said.
He said the military then wrapped the bodies in black plastic sheets before handing them over to the hospital mortuary.
The Tiger rebels expressed outrage at the display of the naked bodies.
Bodies of combatants on both sides are usually returned through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
But the local magistrate ordered the state to bury them because they were in a decomposed state, Rambukwella said.
The ICRC said it did not transfer the bodies as it did not get a prior request from both parties.
"Both the government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) need to directly contact the ICRC and ask for its involvement for us to be able to carry out a transfer of human remains," said Peter Krakolinig, the ICRC's deputy head in Colombo.
"In this case, that did not happen," he said.

Tri-services board toprobe A’pura debacle
In the backdrop of allegations that the LTTE took advantage of last Sunday’s Gajaba Super Cross held at Saliyapura army camp to wreak havoc on the nearby Anuradhapura air base, the government is likely to prohibit similar events at security forces bases.

Lanka rejects US stance Expansion of the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights
Minister of Human Rights and Disaster Managemnt Mahinda Smarasinghe in a letter to American Ambassador Robert Blake rejected the statement issued by the US Department of State, Sean McCork on October 22 that Sri Lanka should reconsider its opposition to the expansion of the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights(OHCHR) and mandate in Sri LKanka.

Health workers strike
Except doctors and nurses all other employees of Mahamodera Hospital in Galle struck work yesterday demanding their overtime for September.