COLOMBO, 17 August 2006 — Sri Lankan warplanes bombed Tamil Tiger positions yesterday as troops hunted rebel infiltrators in northern Jaffna Peninsula after resisting a guerrilla advance, officials said.
Three daylight attacks by Israeli-built Kfir jets hit Tiger targets inside the rebel-held Wanni region, just south of the Jaffna Peninsula, military officials said, adding they had no immediate details of casualties.
“Several targets were taken by the air force, but we don’t have details yet,” a military official here said. Troops and police across the country were on alert and schools nationwide remained shut as the government feared rebel reprisals for a deadly air raid which killed dozens of children on Monday.
In Jaffna, soldiers in full battle gear carried out searches for rebel infiltrators along a front line within the peninsula where heavy fighting broke out Friday, officials said.
The Defense Ministry said troops were consolidating control in the district amid sporadic long-range firing and none of the close-quarter fighting seen in previous days.
Military spokesman Athula Jayawardena said the situation in Jaffna had returned to normal after fighting died down Tuesday, but searches continued.
The military said it killed at least 24 rebels Tuesday on the eastern edge of the peninsula.
A curfew in the area was eased briefly and then reimposed after the military distributed rice and lentils to civilians who had been trapped by the fighting, a military official said. The UN refugee agency said more than 135,000 people have fled since the renewed fighting in Sri Lanka erupted in December.
“Continued heavy fighting in the north and east of Sri Lanka has sent several thousand more civilians fleeing their homes in the last few days,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said.
There was no immediate reaction from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to military claims that troops beat back a guerrilla offensive Tuesday against the town of Jaffna, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital.
