What happened in the attack against IPKF, a member of the LTTE attack team explains
A team of Indian Army Officers are to pay homage at the memorial for IPKF soldiers killed at Kopay in confrontation with LTTE militants. Some of the LTTE cadres who took part in the attack are still alive. One of them shared some information on this attack. This confrontation occurred on 1987 October 18th. On behalf of the LTTE, 11 militants including me took part in this attack. We utilized a new technique for this attack.
That was a period when we have handed over our weapons to the IPKF. Hence we used a new technique in the encounter with the IPKF. We were given gas cylinders filled with Explosives in the form of mines. Only 7 of us had rifles. We intended to use them for covering fire and make the attack and capture their weapons.
Our attack was successfully carried out. 5 Indian soldiers were killed. If I remember correct, around 9 to 11 soldiers were injured. One militant was killed in our side. A militant with nom de guerre ‘Royal’ from Periya Pandiviruchchan , Mannar is the one who was killed in the attack. One of us was injured.
I remember that we captured the weapons of the killed soldiers and ran towards KKS road. The commander who led the attack was killed in 1991 in Vali – North in a confrontation with Sri Lankan Soldiers.
We buried thousands of our Maveerars, just a few hundred meters from the spot where the memorial for the Indian Soldiers is located. Today, that Thuyillumillam (Maveerar Cemetery) is occupied by the Sri Lankan Army, he noted with anguish.
