Continuing their string of successes against the LTTE,Sri Lankan forces on Thursday gained total control over Visuamadu town,the nerve centre of the Tamil Tigers artillery power. Sri Lankan forces seized a submarine-type craft from Tamil Tigers-held area revealing that the outfit was probably the only terrorist organisation in the world,which possessed such capability. Troops stumbled upon the submarine during search operations in the village Udayarakattu,an army spokesman said. Along with the sub-surface craft,the Lankan forces also seized two naval crafts and a single person craft,which could have been used in suicide attacks by Sea Tigers. This was the most startling recovery made by troops so far during the ongoing operations against the LTTE, the Defence Ministry said in a report on its website. With this discovery,the LTTE will go down in the history as the first terrorist organisation to develop underwater weapons, it said. It was not known whether the submarine was indigenous or had been assembled from parts procured clandestinely from abroad. Only a handful of advanced countries have the capability and know-how to manufacture submarine. So far,in the military offensive Lankan forces have seized a number of mine-producing factories as well as establishments that were making light weapons and even mortars. Three suicide boats and a large haul of LTTE maritime equipment were also found at the location,the ministry quoted sources as saying. The army also seized other vessels owned by the LTTE as it forces its way into the remaining strongholds of the Tamil Tigers in the islands northern region. A top LTTE leader K V Balakumaran has been critically wounded in the ongoing offensive by the Sri Lankan army,which is close to wiping out the outfit. Balakumaran,believed to be one of the around 12 top leaders of the LTTE,was injured in an army attack near Udayarkattu on Monday,pro-LTTE Tamil website Puthinam.com reported. Meanwhile,the UN on Thursday began running special rescue convoys and evacuated hundreds of wounded Tamil civilians from behind the Tiger-held areas as concerns grew worldwide over the fate of 250,000 civilians trapped in the war zone. About 350 critically-wounded civilians,including 50 children,were brought to safety zones, UN spokesman Gordon Weiss said. These civilians are part of an estimated 250,000-400,000 Tamils trapped in the jungles of Mullaittivu,the UN official said. The rescue of Tamil civilians came as international human rights groups expressed fears that the lives of the trapped people was becoming increasingly dangerous. Late on Thursday,President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the LTTE to release civilians believed to have been kept by the Tigers as human shields in the embattled north.
