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Sri Lanka Army

Defender of the Nation

16th September 2021 09:30:32 Hours

3 SF & 4 SF Troops in Ex- 'Cormorant Strike XI' Launch Daring Mock Operations against ELF Terrorists

The one kilometer-long new fishery harbour in Dikkowita, north of Colombo, now considered as one of South-East Asia's biggest ones slid into a state of virtual 'batlefield' this morning (16) when elite troops of the 4 Special Forces (SF), currently rehearsing in the Field Training Exercise (FTX) 'Cormorant Strike XI' stormed the harbour in a daring mock operation in order to nab one of the ring leaders, infamous as the money-laundering drug kingpin with foreign lands in the ad hoc 'Eastasian Liberation Fighters' (ELF) armed outfit who had gone into hiding inside the port.

The notoriously-famed and internationally-linked terrorist leader, identified with his pseudonym as 'Charles Lucas' after sailing into the harbour, apparently hiding in a boat amid a flotilla of fishing boats has been identified as the kingpin in the ELF's international drug smuggling network who was largely responsible for collection of foreign exchange for sustenance of the ELF's terrorist operations through illegal drug smuggling and human trafficking as a high profile intelligence leader too.

Thursday (16) morning's special mock operation to capture him either alive or dead along with his terror gang was conducted by 4 Special Forces under the supervision of the Exercise's Brigade Commander, Colonel Sanjeewa Horawalawithana upon receipt of intelligence information. At the time those SF troops swooped on the suspected boat yard inside the fisheries harbour, the criminal was inside a boat, surrounded by his protective armed men who were taken by surprise.

Troops surrounding the terrorist leader and his security ring, some of who were fully armed with T-56 automatic rifles, pistols, hand grenades and sniper weapons captured all of them alive with a haul of explosives and weapons. The striking operation lasted for about 2 hours before the entire operation culminated.

Meanwhile, 3 SF troops early hours on Tuesday (14) rehearsed a similar operation killing one of the ELF insurgent group leaders, known as 'George Meril Kumaran' in a sniper shot while he was hiding in the general area of Meemure in the Central Province. Intelligence troops confirmed that the ELF had based its operational wings, such as the Command post and the military base for effective Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Information (C41) facilities in support of their planned future terrorist attacks .

The civil-cloth clad terrorist group operating in the Central Province for some time had apparently maintained a sound 'informant' network for triggering of violent acts in hill country areas. are available around the base. The enemy terrain at Meemure is situated between the borders between Kandy and Matale districts while accommodating several access points across the spectacular ancient rock, called 'Lakegala'. The daring mock operation at Meemure was supervised by Major General Harendra Ranasinghe, Exercise Director, Major General Anil Samarasiri, Deputy Director of the 'Exercise, Brigadier Sanka Jayamaha, Chief Adviser of the Exercise Cormorant Strike.

As the ongoing 'Exercise Cormorant Strike XI -2021' of the Army is in full swing, General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army with Exercise Director, Major General Harendra Ranasinghe and several Senior Officers on Sunday (12) through a zoom platform from the Operations Room at the Army HQ watched military skills of rehearsing 4 Commando Regiment troops who staged another mock operation after entering the Colombo Harbour to rescue the hypothetical Fisheries and Harbour Minister of Concordia who had been taken hostage by ad hoc Eastasian Liberation Fighters (ELF) inside the International Container Terminal of the Colombo Harbour.