I received the following email from someone who reads PPRuNe but is not registered and said it was sent to him from a friend in Columbo.
"Isn't that amazing? I once read a novel by Tom Clancy in which a small group of trained SAS types, attack an enemy weapons base and destroys it. But the odds there were something like 20 guys attacking a base guarded by 200 guys, not 14 to 38,000. Also that was fancy Clancy fiction and you knew
such things did not happen in the real world. Until now. Here we have a match: A ruthless and efficient terrorist organisation versus a totally incompetent and corrupt regime. Who pays the price?
1. The LTTE contingent was detected 3 times before their attack. First by civilians, second by an SLAF Sergent, and again by an SLAF person.
2. The Air Force Generator (used during power cuts) that was operating near the fence where the LTTE penetrated was out of order for about a week and not repaired.
3. Everyone says the group consisted of 14, but there are reports to say that a LTTE video cameraman was also with the group. If he was there, he must have escaped via the passenger terminal, with the passengers and staff.
4. The 4 LTTE who died on the SLAF side, blew themselves up.
5. The 4 LTTE who died on the runway, also blew themselves up.
6. The 2 who died on the BIA ramp were shot by Army Commandos.
7. The 2 LTTE on the roof of the Terminal (civilian) and the Baggage Services area inside the terminal blew themselves up.
8. One LTTE entered the chiller (air-conditioning) room through a window and
blew himself up. The airport was opened at 6.00 pm on Tuesday. This body was
discovered after a bad smell came from the airport air conditioning ducts in the morning of Wednesday.
9. The SLAF did not kill a single LTTE.
10. The SLAF killed one army commando (accidentally).
11. The Airbus A340 that was damaged had 256 SLAF bullets. LTTE did not possess the same type of ammunition.
12. The 2 A320s were also damaged by Air Force fire.
13. None of the 3 air buses were damaged by LTTE fire. All 3 were damaged by Air Force bullets.
14. There are 9 Air Force armed guards guarding the civilian ramp of the civilian terminal. They could not shoot even one LTTE of the 6 who came to the civilian side of the airport.
15. The first Air Force aircraft was blown-up at 3.50 am. The first UL at 6.10 am, the last at 8.52 am, the last or the one before the last LTTE man blew himself up at 9.00 am in the morning. This firefight lasted for over 5 hours where 14 LTTE caused so much damage in a high security area consisting of 38,000 Air Force service personnel.
16. The next day the SLAF did a 'combing' operation and shot 2 civilians smoking ganja behind a bush at "Nayakanda" and another civilian on top of a coconut tree, thinking he was a sniper.
17. So the SLAF killed one commando, 3 civilians and damaged 3 aircraft with one beyond repair. The price? The economy and that's another long story."