The sri Lankan army’s special force unit that operates deep inside territory controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) received a crucial setback last week when its commander Major.Lalith Jayasinghe was killed by the tigers in the Oddusuddan area of the Wanni northern mainland.
The unit specialises in infiltrating tiger – controlled territory clandestinely and launching attacks on important LTTE officials.
The unit also known as the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) earlier is deemed responsible for a number of killings and claymore mine explosions inside tiger territory in the past.
The unit is also described as the deep penetration unit (DPU)in sections of the media.
Among successful operations conducted by the DPU are the assassinations of “Col” Shankar, Lt. Col Gangai Amaran and Lt.Col Charles.
In recent times an eight – member special squad led by special forces commander Lalith Jayasinghe has conducted many successful operations inside tiger territory even as fighting went on.
The killing of Jayasinghe has been reported by the Colombo Weekly “The Nation” of November 30th 2008-11-30
Given below is the relevant excerpt -
“Daring operations undertaken by the Army’s Special Forces are hardly mentioned in situation reports, as they meticulously avoid seeking any publicity.But we record this week the fall of one such brave officer. It is about the death of Special Forces Brigade Commander Maj. Lalith Jayasinghe who led an eight man team some 30 kilometres inside enemy lines in the Oddusudan area.”
“Due to the region being heavily watched by the LTTE, with there being a large presence of civilians in specially demarcated locations and amidst most difficult weather conditions, Maj. Jayasinghe’s team after taking out one target and while preparing to take on a second target in another location, had got into a firefight with a Tiger team that suddenly descended on their location.”
“In the firefight he had been wounded, but his team had managed to withdraw to a safer location in order to treat their commanding officer. But their pursuers had caught up with them and had again engaged them, thus ending the life of the brave major, and injuring another soldier. But the dedication of this team had been such that the remaining six members had beaten back the attackers and managed to return to their unit with the body of the major and the injured soldier.”
“Maj. Jayasinghe’s service to the Army had been such that he had been twice awarded the highest bravery medal given to a living officer, the Weera Wickreme Vibushana, while he was alive. In addition he had won a number of other fighting awards”
tc
RIP
The unit specialises in infiltrating tiger – controlled territory clandestinely and launching attacks on important LTTE officials.
The unit also known as the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) earlier is deemed responsible for a number of killings and claymore mine explosions inside tiger territory in the past.
The unit is also described as the deep penetration unit (DPU)in sections of the media.
Among successful operations conducted by the DPU are the assassinations of “Col” Shankar, Lt. Col Gangai Amaran and Lt.Col Charles.
In recent times an eight – member special squad led by special forces commander Lalith Jayasinghe has conducted many successful operations inside tiger territory even as fighting went on.
The killing of Jayasinghe has been reported by the Colombo Weekly “The Nation” of November 30th 2008-11-30
Given below is the relevant excerpt -
“Daring operations undertaken by the Army’s Special Forces are hardly mentioned in situation reports, as they meticulously avoid seeking any publicity.But we record this week the fall of one such brave officer. It is about the death of Special Forces Brigade Commander Maj. Lalith Jayasinghe who led an eight man team some 30 kilometres inside enemy lines in the Oddusudan area.”
“Due to the region being heavily watched by the LTTE, with there being a large presence of civilians in specially demarcated locations and amidst most difficult weather conditions, Maj. Jayasinghe’s team after taking out one target and while preparing to take on a second target in another location, had got into a firefight with a Tiger team that suddenly descended on their location.”
“In the firefight he had been wounded, but his team had managed to withdraw to a safer location in order to treat their commanding officer. But their pursuers had caught up with them and had again engaged them, thus ending the life of the brave major, and injuring another soldier. But the dedication of this team had been such that the remaining six members had beaten back the attackers and managed to return to their unit with the body of the major and the injured soldier.”
“Maj. Jayasinghe’s service to the Army had been such that he had been twice awarded the highest bravery medal given to a living officer, the Weera Wickreme Vibushana, while he was alive. In addition he had won a number of other fighting awards”
tc
RIP
