LTTE used to track Indian Troops by their smell, recalls IPKF Colonel

The LTTE fighters cleverly used the distinctive body odor of Indian soldiers to track their movements during the IPKF deployment from 1987 to 1990, says says Col. Yash Saxena (Retd), who, as Second Lieutenant, was part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force.

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Speaking to StratGlobal News about the IPKF operations Col Saxena says: “We had a typical smell to our bodies, due to the food we ate and the oil we used, which was quite different from what the Tamils used,” revealed retired Colonel Yash Saxena, who served in the IPKF. To counter this, Indian troops adapted by rubbing fish oil, mimicking the insurgents, and avoided wearing jungle boots to prevent leaving telltale footprints. These guerrilla warfare lessons gained during those years proved invaluable, with soldiers learning “how to fight guerrilla as guerrilla.”

Full text of StratGlobal News report: The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord signed 38 years ago was a major diplomatic blunder, one India could have done without. The agreement signed by then PM Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President JR Jayewardene on July 29, 1987 led to the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to resolve the ethnic violence in the island nation.