WORLD> Asia-Pacific
|
WORLD> Asia-Pacific
|
|
Sri Lanka rebel aircraft bombs town near frontline
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-09 09:13 COLOMBO -- A Tamil Tiger rebel aircraft bombed a Sri Lankan government-controlled town at the rear of the northern frontline early on Tuesday, police and military officials said. "Three aircraft were seen on radar. One dropped a bomb in Vavuniya and went back. There was also an artillery attack into Vavuniya," a military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. Two other military officials confirmed the air raid, which is the seventh by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A near-simultaneous artillery attack hit an army camp in Vavuniya, which is south of the frontline of the military's advance into LTTE strongholds. The separatist rebels shocked the world in March 2007 by revealing the presence of their air wing with an attack on a military air base located in the international airport in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. The Tigers have since hit other military targets. The last attack wounded 10 sailors on August 27, when they dropped two bombs into a naval base in the northern harbour of Trincomalee. The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to establish a separate homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority on the Indian Ocean island nation. |
