Chennai, March 28
Following an air raid by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Colombo on Monday, the Indian Air Force has set up eight radars on the coast of Tamil Nadu to monitor any violation of air safety into India and plans to set up an air base in the area in future.
The radars have been installed inside a jungle near Sundaramudaiyan village in the coastal Ramanathapuram district, which is 60 km from the island nation, according to a senior IAF official.
He said trial runs had been conducted on the radars and an air surveillance team of 50 IAF personnel would man them.
He said the IAF was also contemplating to set up an air base at Seeniapah Dargah in the area.
On Monday the LTTE flew light combat aircraft from the Vanni region in Sri Lanka all the way to Colombo covering a distance of around 400 km. From Vanni the distance to Tamil Nadu is much less and if the Tigers use a sea plane it can even reach near Chennai covering a lesser distance.
The IAF’s action came in the wake of all three Indian
defence services along with the Indian Coast Guard stepping up its vigilance and patrolling in the seas following a large-scale smuggling of explosives and bomb-making materials from Tamil Nadu to the island nation in the recent past.
Lt-Gen Aditya Singh, GOC-in-C, Southern Command of the Indian Army, said here today that arms and ammunitions smuggling from Tamil Nadu to the LTTE in Sri Lanka was a major concern for defence services and joint patrolling with the Sri Lankan navy was feasible to combat it.
