IAF sets up radars as LTTE flies high

Indian Air Force has set up eight radars as a precautionary measure to monitor the skies in the aftermath of Tamil Tiger rebels launching their first aerial strike in Sri Lanka two days ago.

The radars were fixed at Seeniappa Darga Casurina jungle near Sundaramudaiyan village in Ramanathapuram district and trials were going on, a senior IAF official told PTI on Wednesday, adding that a team of 50 Air Force personnel, under a commander, would be posted there to monitor the skies.

There was also a plan to set up a permanent air-base near Seeniappa Dargah, the official, who wished not to be named, said.

The decision to set up radar facility comes two days after LTTE made an aerial attack at a military airbase in Colombo, killing three persons and injuring 16.

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse had on Tuesday warned that LTTE's air strike capability was a threat to the entire South Asian region, particularly India and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy has begun round-the-clock patrolling of the seas from the Forward Observation Point near Dhanushkodi. Twelve marine commandos have been posted at FOP, to which communication links have been established.

The Coast Guard will also patrol the International Maritime Border in the Palk Straits, official sources said.      

Besides these measures, police check-posts had been asked to inspect every vehicle passing through coastal roads, they said.

There was also a programme to monitor all the uninhabited islets in the Palk Straits, officials said. Several interceptor crafts and speed boats had been deployed at the point where refugees landed.

For the first time, naval personnel would carry Medium Machine Guns. Night vision binoculars had been already given to the Marine commanders. Apart from interceptor aircraft, mechanised trawlers, speed boats, two state-of-the-art ships had been deployed in the Gulf of Mannar.