Navy and Air Force attack Tamil Tiger rebels

Sri Lanka’s navy, assisted by warplanes and helicopters, launched a massive attack against a flotilla of nearly 20 boats belonging to separatist Tamil Tiger rebels off the island’s northern coast today, the military said.

The boats were spotted off the coast of the rebel stronghold of Mullaithivu and the navy, with air support, engaged them, an official at the Defence Ministry’s information centre said on condition of anonymity.

The rebel naval base from which the boats were launched was also attacked causing a fire, he said, adding that details of casualties were not available.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be immediately reached for comment.

The sea attack took place hours after air force planes bombed a rebel camp also in Mullaithivu, according to the military. Ilanthirayan said earlier that no rebel camp was damaged in the air attack, and that all the bombs fell in civilian areas. No casualties were reported.

Government troops have had significant success in recent months, seizing the entire Eastern Province from the separatists after 13 years and bringing a key northern coastal territory that served as a rebel supply point under control a week ago.

However, the rebels who are fighting to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils, still hold a large area in the north where they run a virtual state there.

A Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in 2002 brought relative calm to the country, but a new wave of violence that began in December 2005 has killed more than 5,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. More than 70,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began.

Despite the ceasefire’s collapse, neither side has officially withdrawn from the pact, fearing international isolation.