Sri Lanka’s air force pounded a Tamil Tiger rebel training camp and supply base deep in the northern jungles yesterday, a day after a fierce sea battle destroyed six rebel boats, the military said.
The airstrike was part of the government’s intensified offensive against the guerrillas’ de facto state in the north. Officials have pledged to crush the rebels by the end of this year.
Air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara did not provide details of damage or casualties at the training camp and logistics facility in northern Mullaitivu district, but said the pilots confirmed they had “hit the target accurately.”
It is difficult to contact rebel officials for comment because most communication lines to their territory have been severed.
The airstrike came a day after a sea battle between the navy and the Sea Tigers, the naval wing of the Tamil guerrillas, off the northern Jaffna Peninsula.
The military said the navy destroyed four rebel boats, killing 14 rebels, while air force planes destroyed two more boats and killed three more rebels. Five sailors were wounded in the fighting, it said.
But the rebel-affiliated TamilNet Web site said rebel suicide fighters sank two navy vessels and damaged another. Seven rebels were killed in the mission, it said.
With reporters banned from the war zone, the media must depend on government and rebel statements for most information about the war.
Fighting has escalated in recent months in the 25-year-old civil war as the military has captured a series of rebel bases and large chunks of territory in the north.
The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered marginalization at the hands of successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel