Third Tiger air raid, the government seeks to reassure the country
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Sri Lanka’s government has sworn it will destroy Tamil Tiger air power, which launched its third airborne attack in less than a month yesterday. Because of this domestic flights were suspended across the country. As is the usual case in clashes between the rebels and government, accusations, confirmation and denials have made it difficult to establish the veracity of events. According to Colombo, two light aircraft belonging to the rebels attempted a raid on the city, but were repelled by the national defence system; this apparently forced the planes to drop their 4 bombs on two different zones: Kolonnawa and Muthurajawela, 15 Km from the city limits, without causing harm or damage. Immediately after the event a statement was released by the Ministry for Information reassuring the Country that Colombo “will adopt all necessary measures to destroy the air power of the Ltte”, (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), the group has been fighting since 1983 for North East Sri Lanka’s independence from the Sinhalese government.
The version supplied by the pro-rebel TamilNet website differs greatly, according to which the operation was a “great success”: two oil storages that supply fuel to Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers were attacked by the Tamileelam Air Force. There were no victims, apart from some lightly wounded, and both aircraft safely made it back to base in Vanni. Rebel spokesman, Irasiah Ilanthirayan, declared that the attacks were in retaliation for government raids on the suburbs of Kilinochchi, the “capital” of rebel held territories.
The latest Ltte air raid terrified the population, most of who were glued to their televisions for the finals of the Cricket World Cup against Australia. Yesterdays were the third Rebel Air raid in the history of the Tigers, the first rebel group in the world to arm itself with airpower. The raid on the capital, however, does not appear to have greatly worried the government, convinced that the new rebel tactic is merely their reaction to heavy losses in recent months following a heavy military offensive. Battles between the two fronts have already claimed over a thousand lives since the beginning of 2007, 63 thousand since 1983.
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