Sri Lankan jets bombed and destroyed a northern Tamil Tiger naval base yesterday, the military said, a day after a fierce sea battle that left up to 52 rebels and navy sailors dead.
The bombing raid by MiGs and Israeli-made Kfir jets is the latest in a series of air strikes in recent months as Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government seeks to destroy the Tigers militarily to end a new chapter in a 25-year civil war.
"They hit a Sea Tiger special training base in Mullaittivu. They say it was completely destroyed," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the raid, and instead sent an e-mail situation report saying they had thwarted an army bid to infiltrate their defense line in the Jaffna Peninsula. They said they had killed one soldier in the incident.
They made no mention of the air force bombing sortie.
The raid came a day after navy attack boats battled a flotilla of Tamil Tiger vessels off the island's northwest tip, destroying 11 rebel craft and killing an estimated 40 insurgents, the military said.
A dozen navy fast-attack craft sank four of the rebel vessels, helicopter gunships and fighter jets sank another five, and two rebel suicide vessels were destroyed when they rammed a navy boat that was badly damaged.
"One navy craft was also severely damaged as two suicide boats rammed into it," he said, adding that the navy found the body of a navy officer. "Eleven sailors were missing, and they are presumed dead."
Two other sailors who were on board the damaged vessel were rescued unharmed, he said.
The rebels said their fighters sank one naval craft and damaged two others in the three-hour clash, according to an e-mailed statement from rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan on Wednesday. Four Black Tigers, the rebel group's suicide fighters, died in the attacks, it said.
Calls to Ilanthirayan for further comment went unanswered.
Wednesday's clash came as thousands of Sri Lankans marked the third anniversary of the 2004 tsunami, which battered two-thirds of the island's coastline and left 35,000 dead or missing.
The military has reported killing hundreds of Tigers in recent weeks, with the death toll from renewed fighting well more than 5,000 since early last year.
No independent confirmation of the battle was available. Analysts say both sides tend to exaggerate enemy losses and play down their own.
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