Sins Of Our Fathers

Chapter 9

We can't wait

To burn it to the ground

- Linkin Park

18 July 1996, Mullaitivu Military Base

It was just past midnight. Nathan and his comrades rode on a jeep that was part of a large convoy that was ordered to do a surprise attack on the Mullaitivu Military Base.

The convoy stopped just outside the base, and using the darkness of the night as a cover, Nathan and his comrades took positions quietly, waiting for the signal to attack. Nathan's position was on the north side of the base. The plan was to have a surprise attack from the north and south of the base. Both units would meet at the headquarter building, while the Sea Tigers (a Naval unit of the LTTE), using their vessels, would attack from the east coast.

The Sea Tigers set their foot on the sand of the east coast beach, and immediately prepared a few rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers. The first shot of the battle was fired. RPGs flew right into the military base, blasting a few buildings simultaneously. To the shock of the Sri Lankan Army.

It was thirty minutes past one in the morning, and the signal had arrived to move forward and kill anyone standing between them and the base headquarters. The Sri Lankan Army was totally not prepared for this. Nathan got up from his position and charged towards the base gate, firing his AK-47. The guards at the guard post dropped dead without a fight. The Sri Lankan soldiers from guard towers along the post, returned fire at the rebels.

Nathan and two of his comrades hid behind the guard post where the dead army guard dropped. "Shit! Where is this bastard firing from?" his comrade asked.

Nathan took a peek and saw a guard tower right behind them, and two soldiers were firing at them. "They got good position!" Nathan said.

At that moment, a RPG fired by a Sea Tiger went straight to the guard tower, blowing the soldiers and the tower up.

"Yes! Move, move, move!" Nathan said, and pushed his guys forward. He had ten men behind him, moving together from building to building. They could hear gun fires coming from the south, and from inside of some those buildings. Once the rebels reached at each building, Nathan sneaked to the door, blasted it with grenade, barged into the building and stunned the soldiers inside and killed them by triggering his rifle off. His comrades joined him in the shooting each time.

Two of his comrades split away from them and sneaked to a nearby artillery site. They set-up C4 bombs around it, and blasted the site. "Get the comms tower! The comms tower!" came the order to Nathan through his walkie-talkie.

Nathan signaled his C4 guys, and pointed to the tall communications tower. The two guys ran towards the tower as Nathan and his other comrades gave them cover fire. The two set-up the C4s, and after running to a safe distance, blew it up. The tower came crashing down in flames, and broke into several pieces as it crashed to the ground.

The rebels rejoiced when they saw the tower was down. The Sri Lankan Army will not be able to call for back-up. Nathan again signaled the C4 guys to regroup with them, as they moved towards the base headquarters. It took them a few hours more to get to the headquarters due to the gunfight that went on in all directions. Dead bodies littered the path to the headquarters. Burning embers from buildings with raging fire and thick black smoke filled the air. Nathan and his team finally reached the headquarter building.

Return fire was shot at Nathan and his gang from inside the headquarters. Nathan hit the ground to hide away from the bullets.

"Fuck! They can't even do one job properly!" Nathan cursed, saying that the southern LTTE platoon left some soldiers inside the headquarters. Two RPGs flew right into the base headquarter building, blowing up part of it. Once again, the RPGs came from the Sea Tigers and the return fire inside the building, stopped.