The 30-minute programme, crackled with static, began on Wednesday at 7 pm and could be picked up on FM in parts of northern Sri Lanka including Vavuniya town. Tamil sources in the town said the programme, mainly in the form of an address to Sri Lankan soldiers, stressed that the war against the LTTE could never be won and that Sinhalese youth were shedding their blood in vain.

It pointed out that Operation Jayasekuru, launched to wrest the Vavuniya-Jaffna road from the LTTE, had dragged on for 16 months with the end nowhere in sight. It said the Tigers were only fighting for their ``homeland'' and not for Galle, Matara or Kurunegala -- areas in Sinhala-dominated southern Sri Lanka. So far, VoT broadcast Tamil programmes laced with LTTE propaganda.

The launching of the Sinhala service around the time of VoT'seighth year in business marks a new strategy by the Tigers in their psychological warfare against the Sri Lankan military. The military spokesman said on Thursday that defence authorities were aware of the transmission but were seeking more detail. ``They have done a test transmission but we have not been able to get more details,'' said Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon.

A pro-LTTE internet site claimed the Army had attempted to jam the broadcast and attributed the poor quality of the transmission to this. VoT broadcasts through a transmitter located somewhere in the Maullaithivu jungles with a reach of 60 kms.

So far, for Tamils living in Killinochchi, Mullaithivu, Mannar and Vavuniya, it is the alternate radio and though totally one-sided, provides a balance to the equally one-sided government-owned Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.There is no doubt about the target audience of its Sinhalese service, because the only Sinhalese in northern Sri Lanka are soldiers. Unable to jam the Tamil transmission, the Armyhas taken to monitoring it closely -- soldiers posted in the region may begin tuning in with worrying consequences for the government.

News bulletins on the radio report every clash between the LTTE and the Army, painting the former as always emerging victorious. After major battles, like the one at Killinochchi in September, the broadcasts give graphic accounts with all the gory details included. They also unfailingly give out figures of troop casualties in such battles, details normally disclosed by the government only after days or months.