LTTE were to get 10 aircrafts, Indian media report says

LTTE were to get 10 aircrafts, Indian media report says

Thu, Sep 24, 2009, 09:49 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Sept 24, Colombo: Sri Lanka's terrorist outfit, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were set to get 10 new aircraft through an Eritrea-based arms smuggling network when the government's military offensive reached its climax, an Indian media report said.

According to a report in Indian newspaper Hindustan Times, the aircraft had been dismantled and were to be shipped to the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka when the war reached a decisive stage.

"The LTTE calculated that the war would stretch but it didn’t happen; the aircraft could not be delivered," the Indian daily quoted a senior Sri Lankan military officer.

According to the army officer, the LTTE while waiting for the aircraft to arrive got the pilots trained from training schools in Malaysia and Indonesia. Trained instructors were also present in Sri Lanka.

The Army has recovered pilot training simulator from the jungles of Mullaitivu.

"At least a dozen pilots had been trained. Two among them have been arrested. The rest could be hiding among the internally displaced persons (in refugee camps)," Hinduatan Times quoted the officer.

A United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigation in 2006 revealed that the Government of Eritrea was providing direct military assistance to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels.

A Colombo based magazine in August said in a report that Sri Lankan army found 12 fighter planes belonging to the LTTE at an airport in Eritrea from the information given by the LTTE's arms dealer Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP who is now in Sri Lankan custody.

Sri Lanka is seeking to establish diplomatic relations with Eritrea in an effort to counter the LTTE international network which is said to be still active despite the arrest of their self-appointed leader KP.