Tamil Tiger rebels flying light aircraft bombed Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula yesterday and launched an artillery attack, killing at least six soldiers, officials and the rebels said.
In their second air strike in as many months, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan said two light aircraft were flown over the key Palaly air field just after midnight.
"We have carried out our second air attack ... on the Palaly air field and their military stores," he said by satellite telephone from the north of the island.
The rebels, whose drawn-out campaign for independence for the ethnic Tamil minority has left more than 60,000 dead, carried out their first air strike on Sri Lankan forces last month using two single-engined, Czech-made training planes.
The first attack saw the guerrillas drop six bombs on the island's main military air base, which shares a runway with Sri Lanka's only international airport.
The government insisted the second Tiger attack inflicted little damage.
"The security forces acted promptly, alerted through the air defense systems, and launched a counter air offensive at a suspected aircraft ... forcing it to change course immediately," the defense ministry said.
Military sources said six troopers were killed and 13 wounded in the Tiger air attack. The defense ministry said the Tigers also carried out a simultaneous artillery attack.
Sri Lanka's army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, however, said the aircraft changed course to bomb a nearby army detachment.
"Troops at the forward defense lines saw them [Tiger aircraft] coming and alerted the Palaly base, and they used all their resources to direct fire at the aircraft," Fonseka said.
He said that the military switched off lights, rolled out heavy guns and opened fire. However, the guerrilla aircraft managed to escape.
Tiger spokesman Ilanthiriyan said their pilots saw flames after dropping bombs on the sprawling military complex. It is the main military complex in Jaffna, a former Tiger bastion captured by government troops in December 1995.
The pro-rebel tamilnet.com Web site said explosions were heard from within the high security zone of Palaly following the Tiger attack. It also said that electricity and mobile phone networks in the area were cut off by authorities for several hours.
Tamilnet said heavy clashes were also reported along the frontlines on the Jaffna peninsula.
The Tigers failed to break the defense lines and move into Jaffna in August last year, and since then the main land route to Jaffna has remained shut.
The military depends on air and sea transport to ferry supplies to 40,000 security personnel and more than 350,000 civilians living in government-held parts of the peninsula.
Since the first Tiger air attack, the Sri Lankan military has acquired night-flying capabilities and said it has bombed several suspected Tiger targets, including guerrilla naval assets, communications facilities and training camps.
Hours before yesterday's pre-dawn attack, a roadside bomb killed five people and wounded 33 in Vavuniya, which is next to a rebel-held area, the defense ministry said earlier.
The government on Monday asked peace broker Norway to put off a visit to rebel-held territory by their ambassador, citing security considerations.
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