Sri Lankan fighter jets bombed a Tamil Tiger military base in the rebel-held far north on Friday, triggering multiple explosions, the air force said, while a suspected rebel roadside bomb killed one civilian in the east.
The air strike near the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu in the northern district of Mullaittivu targeted top leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and was the second such raid in the area in as many days.
”We got to know through intelligence there was a high-ranking meeting of the LTTE, so we took the target,” said air-force spokesperson Group Captain Ajantha de Silva. ”It was an LTTE military complex called Imbran Pandian regiment.” He had no details of any casualties.
The LTTE, which says it is fighting for an independent state for minority ethnic Tamils in the north and east, said in an email the bombs had damaged homes but caused no casualties.
However, it was not immediately available for comment on a roadside bomb attack in the eastern district of Batticaloa that killed one civilian and wounded two others. The army said the rebels were responsible.
Following another raid in the area on Thursday, in which the military said it destroyed a rebel munitions store, the Tigers said the bombs had damaged houses and wounded six civilians.
There was no independent confirmation of what the jets hit on Thursday or Friday, how many people were killed or what had happened, and analysts say both sides exaggerate enemy losses amid a parallel propaganda war.
The bombings come on the heels of a new offensive launched by the Sri Lankan military this month to drive the rebels from the north-western district of Mannar, after pushing them out from jungle terrain they controlled in the east earlier this year.
An estimated 5 000 people have died since early last year alone in renewed fighting after a peace process collapsed. Nearly 70 000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since the war erupted in 1983. — Reuters