UPDATED ON:
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
11:55 Mecca time, 08:55 GMT
 
News CENTRAL/S. ASIA
Tiger planes hit Sri Lanka targets

The raids on a power station and a military base caused only minor damage [AFP]

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatists have bombed a power station and an army base in separate air raids.

Tuesday's attacks brought to nine the number of raids by the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) fledgling air force of single-engine propeller-driven planes since their first raid in March 2007.

The first attack on Tuesday hit Thalladi military camp in Mannar district, about 250km north of the capital, Colombo, causing minor damage and injuring one soldier, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the military, said.

The raids left one person dead and three soldiers wounded, but caused only minor damage.

Soon after, radar picked up an unidentified aircraft heading south over the Indian Ocean towards Colombo.

The city was plunged into darkness after power was switched off as a precaution, jets were scrambled and anti-aircraft guns thundered from Colombo's shoreline.

But a Tigers aircraft still managed to drop bombs at Kelanitissa power station.

Nanayakkara said it was not clear whether the raids were carried out by the same aircraft.

Strong signal

Minelle Fernandez, reporting for Al Jazeera from Colombo, said the raids were a strong signal that the Tigers were still able to strike at the heart of the capital despite the military saying it had the separatists cornered.

The Tigers are locked in heavy fighting with the military in northern Sri Lanka, where the government has expressed confidence that it will defeat a foe its has battled since 1983 in one of Asia's longest-running separatist rebellion.

The military has stepped up its offensive in the last three months and says it has steadily seized one LTTE stronghold after another and is within striking distance of the rebel capital Kilinochchi.

Tens of thousands of people have died since the LTTE launched a separatist campaign in 1972 for a homeland for minority Tamils in the majority Sinhalese island's north and east.

 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Feedback Number of comments : 11
 
ish
Sri Lanka
29/10/2008
Tamil Tiger air raid hits army camp
Is this action considered acceptable by the Tamil Nadu sympthisers? Especially that Blind minister(wearing sunglasses) who yesterday contributed 10 lakhs to a relif fund for the "Tamils caught in the North". you indians are the cause of all this mess and wants it to be there so that it will inhibit the growth in SL. Once again!!! is this action good enough to prove that LTTE is a terrorist organization? and its not an organization who fights for the rights of the tamils?

kuthbuddin
Sri Lanka
29/10/2008
tiger plane hit sri lanka targets
they are definitly cornered.as long as tamil nadu bealives this is against the tamils.as we know this war is not against the sri lankan tamils. the war will continue.if they are evicted from sri lanka they will be having bases in tamilnadu.the only solution is we as sri lankan must spread democracy have equal rights to every community in sri lanka.peace paramount importent.

Azeez
Sri Lanka
29/10/2008
Scare crow
Diwali fireworks in Indian cities are far far louder and brighter than the gunfire, searchlights and aircraft sounds I observed yesterday mid-night in the blackout at Colombo. Looks like it was done by group who wants to scare people and keep up the war momentum.

Omar Hashi
Pakistan
30/10/2008
The ill treatment of muslims
Muslims can trust the Tamils to some extend ... never the Sinhalese government or the Sinhalese people. I still remember in July 1983 when the Sinhalese hooligans came and burned our Mosque and burned 35 people! I still could hear the screams. Now tell me if another ethnic community does that to you ... how would you feel. Sri Lankan government are the real terrorist!

Vincent Bosco
India
29/10/2008
Terrorrism in any form is not acceptable
It is only aggrevating the damage already done. Tamils or anybody should realise that not by force we can achieve anything. When the Government is ready for dialogue, Tamils should make use of the opertunity.

Mohamed Sideek
Sri Lanka
29/10/2008
SRI LANKA SITUATION
The Tamils in Tamil Nadu, India have got it all wrong about the Lankan Tamil problems. Their politicians and their stooges have lead them up a blind alley. India should realise that the Tamil agitation in India if allowed to progress would eventually lead to Tamil Nadu to be recognised as a separate entity and a greater Tamil State. Sri Lankans have had enough of this problem. It has ruined our country and we need an end. We ask India to leave us alone and concentrate on Indian issues.

Indu Delwala
United Arab Emirates
29/10/2008
Tiger planes hit Sri Lanka targets
These petty actions of LTTE show how desperate they are at this point, when Government military forces are progressing steadily in the north. The benefactors of LTTE, who live in other countries & shout against government military operations, are the beneficiaries of this mess. They live good lives in the UK, Canada, etc., pretending to be victims of domination of Sinhalese, while a handful of Tamils live a horrendous life between LTTE terrorists who demand the life out of them!

Bigmel1981
Malaysia
29/10/2008
Tiger planes hit Sri Lanka targets
Clear indications that the government are liars on the whole matter of having a grip.

Afzal Jiffrey
Saudi Arabia
01/11/2008
TAMIL IS A LANGUAGE
Non Sri Lankan readers should understand that Tamil is a language spoken by Hindus, Muslims, and Christians living in north and east as well as a few Sinhalese. Sri Lankan minority started their struggle for equality but it was diverted by some Tamil Nadu politicians by financing the Hindus (2nd majority) of the SL north and converted our struggle to a war between the Sinhalese and Hindus. Now, this war has nothing to do with Tamil coz this is a clash between civilizations.

Uma Devan
United Kingdom
03/11/2008
Feedback for : Tiger planes
I totally agree with Jiffrey's comment here that Tamilnadu involvement created this mess. Not only people like MGR, but also Indira Gandhi and RAW created Prabhakan the devil. He murdered all the moderate militants like Pathmanabha & Uma M. who were willing to work with activists in the south on a broader freedom struggle for all unprivileged people. Prabkaran, with his own dream to be the king of Eelam didnt want to join. So, he killed them all (i.e. all the educated moderate tamils).

Mike Adams
United States
03/11/2008
Go Tigers!!
If the Sri Lankan government had not sold Sri Lanka down the river to the International privatizers, (who have destroyed the world economy) the Tamil Tiger Freedom Fighters would have already won their war of Independence.. I sense the presence of secret U.S. AC130 Specter Gunships and Israeli and U.S. Surveillance planes in some of the advances the Government has made. The international money boys must protect their property, after all. -) That may change with a new U.S. administration.

 
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