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LTTE men destroy 13 planes

Colombo, July 24
In a deadly pre-dawn operation, LTTE suicide bombers attacked the military airbase here and nearby international airport triggering a fierce fighting with the security forces that left 13 rebels and five security personnel killed and 13 military and civilian aircraft either destroyed or damaged.

Marking the 18th anniversary of ‘Black July of 1983’, over 10 LTTE rebels in a shocking breach of security penetrated deep into the airbase and attacked it with grenade launchers, machine guns, assault rifles, explosives and light anti-tank weapons targeting combat jets and helicopter gunships before moving to Bandaranaike International Airport where they destroyed three airbuses of Sri Lankan Airlines and damaged two.

Two of the rebels were suicide bombers who blew themselves up, while 11 were gunned down by the security forces. Three air force personnel and two army men were killed in the ensuing fighting and 12 others were wounded. Two civilians were also injured in the crossfire.

The remnants of a Sri Lankan Airlines airbus destroyed in a pre-dawn attack in Colombo on Tuesday. A view of Colombo International Airport through the cracked glass of the departure terminal following a pre-dawn attack in Colombo on Tuesday.  — Reuters photos

The Sri Lankan Government has ordered an inquiry into the security lapses. The attackers apparently smuggled themselves inside the high-security area under the cover of darkness using a canal connecting the Negombo lagoon with the airbase.

As the fighting raged for six hours, the international airport was closed to traffic and all incoming flights were diverted to Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Dubai.

An official statement later in the day said the situation had been brought under control and the civilian airport would be reopened to international traffic shortly.

The LTTE owned responsibility for the attack coinciding with the worst anti-Tamil riots in history that rocked Colombo in 1993 that left hundreds dead and heralded the beginning of the separatist war.

Meanwhile the Sri Lankan Air Force on Tuesday launched an air attack on suspected LTTE bases in the Vanni region in the north, hours after a devastating militant attack on its Katunayake air base near Colombo and the adjoining international airport.

Military spokesman Brig Sanath Karunaratne said the aerial attacks were targeted at bases in the Viswamadhu area. Details of damage of the rebel positions, if any, were not immediately known. PTI