COLOMBO: Tamil Tiger rebels launched an air raid and a ground assault led by a team of suicide commandos on a military complex in northern Sri Lanka early yesterday. Thirteen troops, one civilian and 11 of the assailants died in the attack, the military said.
The military said it shot down one of the rebels’ small planes following the attack. However, rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said in an e-mail statement that rebel aircraft, backed by artillery and ground fighters, destroyed a radar station, weaponry stores, a communications tower and facility, and anti-aircraft guns at the military base before safely returning home.
At least 20 government soldiers and 10 rebel suicide fighters known as Black Tigers were killed in the fighting, the rebel statement said. The rebels also released a photograph of the 10 smiling suicide fighters — five women and five men in gray striped uniforms posing with their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The brazen operation targeting the base in Vavuniya was the first major rebel attack in government-held areas since the military began capturing large swaths of rebel-held territory in the north in recent weeks. The military offensive has forced the rebel fighters to retreat deep into the jungles and led to speculation that the rebels might be nearing defeat after 25 years of civil war.
The attack on the complex in Vavuniya, a city bordering rebel-held areas, began about 2.50 a.m. when the Tamil Tigers launched an artillery barrage, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara. The complex houses headquarters for police, army and air force troops engaged in the battle against the rebels.
Soon after the first artillery shells exploded, a rebel ground assault team invaded the army base. About 3.30 a.m., two light aircraft from the Tamil Tigers’ rudimentary air force joined in the attack, dropping two bombs on the army camp, he said.
The military drove off the planes with anti-aircraft fire and fighter jets followed them back to rebel-held territory, Nanayakkara said. One of the jets shot down one of the planes with a missile over the rebel stronghold of Mullaituvu.
The artillery barrage did not end until nearly 6 a.m., he said. The attack killed 12 soldiers, one police officer and one civilian, Nanayakkara said. Troops killed 11 of the guerillas who had invaded the base, he said.
Hours later, air force fighter jets pounded a Tamil Tiger base deep in the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, said air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara.
