COLOMBO (Reuters) - Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels attacked Sri Lanka's international airport north of the capital Colombo before dawn on Monday, the military said, and witnesss who live nearby told Reuters they could hear gunfire.
"There is an attack going on , but we don't have any details," said Flight Lieutenant Kanista Rajapakse of the Media Center for National Security. "There is fighting going on."
The attack comes amid an escalating new chapter in the island's two-decade civil war, which has killed around 68,000 people since 1983
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COLOMBO, March 26 (Reuters) - Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels attacked Sri Lanka's international aiport north of the capital Colombo before dawn on Monday, the military said, and witnesses who live nearby told Reuters they could hear gunfire.
"There is an attack going on , but we don't have any details," said Flight Lieutenant Kanista Rajapakse of the Media Centre for National Security. "There is fighting going on."
The attack comes in the wake of a series of deadly land and sea battles and amid an escalating new chapter in the island's two-decade civil war, which has killed around 68,000 people since 1983.
"I can hear gunfire from near the airport," said R.M. Gunasekera, an accountant who lives near the town of Katunayake around 23 miles (37 km) north of Colombo, where the airport is situated.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last attacked the airport in 2001, the year before a ceasefire deal which has since collapsed on the ground, in which half of the Sri Lankan airlines fleet of airplanes was destroyed.
President Mahinda Rajapakse's government aims to defeat the Tigers militarily within 2-3 years, and is pushing on with military offensives in the east and north despite pleas from the international community to stop.
The rebels, who are battling for an independent state for minority Tamils in the island's north and east, have warned of a bloodbath and analysts say a new chapter in a two-decade war that has killed around 4,000 troops, civilians and Tigers in the past 15 months alone is spreading
-Reuters-
Air-Tigers attack Katunayake military airbase
[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 20:06 GMT]
Two attack air-crafts belonging to Liberation Tigers carried out bombing raids at the Sri Lanka Air Force airbase at Katunayake at 12:45 a.m. early morning Monday and returned safely to Vanni, military spokesperson of the LTTE, Rasaiah Ilanthiraiyan told TamilNet. The targets for the air attack were the SLAF's Kfir and MiG-27 hangers at the military base located adjoining the Katunayake International Airport (KIA), Ilanthiraiyan said.
Two SLAF personnel were killed and 17 wounded in the attacks according to SLAF spokesperson in Colombo. The injured have been rushed to Negombo hospital from the military airbase, medical sources said.
Katunayake International Airport (KIA) did not suffer any damages, according to military sources.
Sandana de Silva, Communication's Director for 'Srilankan,' Sri Lanka's flagship passenger air-liner, said that the International Airport is shut and all 'Srilankan' flights have been diverted to an air-port in a South Indian state.
Immediate areas surrounding the air-port and the adjoining SLAF airbase have been cordoned off, according to local residents.
Following the first major aerial attack by the Tigers, Ilanthiraiyan further said: "The attack is not only pre-emptive but also to safeguard our people from indiscriminate bombing by the SLAF. Other Sri Lanka military installations will also be targets of our future attacks."
Unconfirmed reports from Colombo said Air-port taxi drivers have seen at least two men on parachutes above the airbase.
The attack occurs amid speculations of an imminent offensive of Sri Lankan military into the northern theatre.
In a similar predawn attack on the Katunayake air base, about 35 km. north of Colombo on 24 July 2001, Tigers destroyed thirteen air crafts including two Kfir jet fighters, one MI-24 Helicopter gun ship and one MIG-27- jet fighter.
No civilians were injured or killed in the 2001 attack.
Military offensives by Sri Lanka Security Forces in the NorthEast, since the outbreak of violence in August 2006, have been dominated by air-attacks by SLAF. Attack air-crafts carrying unguided ammunition have been inflicting heavy civilian casualties and damages to civilian property.
"A couple of aircraft of Tamil Eelam Air Force have launched an attack on a Sri Lankan military airfield and hangars of military aircraft," rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said to Reuters by telephone.
He said the aircraft had flown back to the Tigers' northern stronghold after what he called a "successful mission".
"It is not only pre-emptive, it is a measure to protect Tamil civilians from the genocidal aerial bombardments by Sri Lankan armed forces," he told Reuters. "More attacks of the same nature will follow."
Source: Reuters
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