Tamil rebels launch first-ever airstrike in Sri Lanka

Tamil rebels launched their first-ever airstrike in their 25-year conflict with Sri Lanka’s government, using at least one small plane to bomb an air base outside the capital Colombo today.

Tamil Tiger rebels said the overnight raid, which killed three airmen and injured 16 personnel at the base about 20 miles north-west of Colombo, was aimed at halting what they called “indiscriminate” aerial bombing of Tamil areas and warned of more attacks.

The Tigers said two aircraft carried out the raid, though it was not immediately clear what kind of planes they used or where they obtained them. Air force spokesman Group Capt. Ajantha Silva said the attack involved a single light aircraft, and that it was the first airstrike by the Tigers.

The attack took place just before 1am local with a single light aircraft dropping two bombs near the base’s engineering section, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. No aircraft on the ground were damaged, but three airmen were killed and 16 injured, it said.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan, speaking from the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, said the “two attack aircraft” returned safely after bombing the Sri Lankan air force base, calling it the “the first major aerial attack by the Tigers”.

The adjacent international airport was not hit, but it closed briefly before resuming operations, said a duty officer at the airport.

The rebels, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, staged a devastating attack on the same air base in July 2001 and destroyed six civilian jets and over a dozen military planes.

About 18 Tiger suicide fighters were involved in the ground attack, which also killed half a dozen security personnel.

The Tigers launched their fight in 1983 to create an independent homeland for the country’s 3.1 million minority Tamils after decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. A Norway-brokered cease-fire signed in 2002 slowed the violence, but hostilities increased again in late 2005, with more than 4,000 fighters and civilians killed in the past 15 months, according to European cease-fire monitors.