Sri Lanka bombing campaign over Tamil territory

Sri Lankan warplanes carried out airstrikes today around the northern town of Kilinochchi, deep inside rebel-held territory where Tamil Tiger insurgents have their headquarters, a rebel official said.

“There were at least two sorties and as many as 20 bombs were dropped by Sri Lankan bombers,” rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said.

“The impact of the bombing made the buildings here vibrate,” he said, adding that it was too early to give a casualty figure.

He said the 30-minute raid started at 9.15am local time.

Open conflict in Sri Lanka, a tropical island of 19 million people, has escalated in the past year, despite a truce brokered by Norway in 2002.

Fighting since last December – which has included air strikes, mine attacks, assassinations and regular exchanges of heavy arms fire – has killed more than 3,200 combatants and civilians, but both sides maintain they have not withdrawn from the truce.

The Sri Lankan government and the rebels refuse to budge from their positions. The rebels want a separate homeland for the 3.2 million ethnic Tamil minority, while the government says regional autonomy is the maximum it will give.