Sri Lankan rebels bomb defense line

Sri Lanka’s separatist rebels used light aircraft to bomb an army defense line in the island’s war-torn north early yesterday, hours after fierce clashes killed 42 combatants, the military said.

Military Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the Tamil Tiger rebel plane dropped three bombs near Sri Lankan forces in the Welioya region but no soldiers were hurt.

Troops insurgents engaged is ferocious fighting along the front lines of Welioya killing 22 insurgents and seven soldiers, Nanayakkara said. One soldier was missing.

Separate on Saturday along the northern Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya fronts killed 13 more rebels, he said.

light aircraft

It was the first attack by the rebels’ air wing — made up of a few self-assembled light aircraft — since it helped insurgents on the ground attack a government air force base last October. The government lost eight planes in that assault.

Nanayakkara two rebel aircraft were spotted on the radar and ground troops fired at them with anti-aircraft guns. An air force plane also chased the aircraft but they escaped, he said.

On Saturday, Sri Lankan fighter jets pounded a rebel artillery position in Welioya, the military said in a statement.

Meanwhile, police said they had arrested nine suspects in connection with a bus bombing that killed 26 passengers and left another 64 people wounded outside Sri Lanka’s capital on Friday.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Saturday the blast proved the Tamil Tiger separatists were facing growing pressure on the battlefield in the north.

“The terrorists had once again resorted to killing innocent civilians in the face of heavy setbacks on the battlefield,” Rajapaksa said in a statement.

Friday’s tore through a bus filled with rush-hour passengers in Piliyandala, a suburb of the capital, Colombo.

Police N.K. Ilangakoon said the nine suspects were being questioned. He did not give more details.

The military said it fears more rebel attacks against civilians as the northern war front heats up.

The government has stepped up attacks on the Tamil Tigers’ de facto state in the north since pulling out of a long-ignored ceasefire in January. It claims to have killed thousands of guerrilla fighters since then. The rebels deny those casualty figures and have managed to fend off numerous offensives.

homeland

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for minority ethnic Tamils, who have been marginalized by successive governments controlled by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority.

More 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Latest ministry figures show 3,131 Tigers have been killed by security forces this year. Official figures say the military has lost 223 soldiers this year.

Independent of the tolls is impossible as Colombo bars journalists and rights groups from combat areas and rebel-held territory.

Sri Lanka’s military top brass maintained that the LTTE were considerably weakened after they were driven out from the east of the island last July, but the rebels have still been able to carry out spectacular strikes around the country.