The Army has stepped up anti-insurgency operations in the Jaffna peninsula to thwart LTTE attempts to destabilise the area as part of its strategy to offset heavy battle-field defeats on the Vanni front.

The Army Tuesday (September 30) evening searched two Hindu kovils at Sandilipay in the Valigamam area. A quantity of arms, ammunition and several sets of military fatigues were recovered. A senior military official told The Island that the Galwala Kovil and Nagudshan Amman Kovil would have been among their safe houses.

The recovered items included five T-56 assault rifles, two modified weapons equipped with silencers, seven rounds of ammunition for weapons equipped with silencers, 834 T-56 magazines, two M4 hand grenades, three firing devices, two sets of military fatigues, a pair of boots, three jungle hats, one Global Positioning System (GPS), one compass, one cyanide capsule, twenty nine field dressings, two pouches, two man-packs, five maps, one radio antenna, four 9v batteries, thirty-two pen torch batteries,  one water bottle, one basket, medical items and a stock of food. 

He said that raids had been ordered by the Jaffna Security Forces headquarters barely 24 hours after the army recovered arms and explosives from Makiapiddy Meenachchi Amman Hindu Kovil in Kandaroddai, Jaffna. He said that weapons been stored in three Vel Carts belonging to the kovils.

He told The Island that the recovery of arms would force the Army to step up raids and surveillance even on places of religious worship not only in the Jaffna peninsula but in other areas under security forces.

The Army said that Tuesday’s raids were ordered consequent to the recovery of a cache of arms in a Kovil: The haul included one micro pistol, two magazines, one grenade launcher, ten 40 mm grenades, three night vision devices, four combat kits, two hand grenades, two ground sheets, one Global Positioning System (GPS), one compass, three belt orders, one combat T- shirt, three pairs of military fatigues, army-type boots, six water bottles, one Nokia mobile phone, one video camera, one charger, eighteen batteries, five sarongs, one bag, three T-shirts, Rs 20,000 in cash, three saline bottles and eight packets of biscuit stashed in a Vel cart.

The Army entered the Kovil premises after troops on a foot patrol had detected four LTTE cadres inside the special hut-type structure where the covered Vel Cart had been parked. Before the army could bring in reinforcements to surround the area, the LTTE cadres had escaped after throwing a hand grenade at troops who made the initial detection.