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Tigers in Kamikaze-style attack on Sri Lanka's tax HQ
2009-02-20
COLOMBO (AFP) - Tamil Tiger rebels carried out a possible suicide attack and bombed Sri Lanka's main tax office in the capital Colombo on Friday night, military officials said. At least two people were killed and 44 injured, according to a doctor at the main hospital where the wounded were taken, after one of the aircraft hit the building and detonated a bomb. Sri Lanka's air force said anti aircraft guns shot down one of the light aircraft as it was trying to get away after flying over the capital, while the wreckage of the second was found inside the Inland Revenue building. The country's only international airport was shut down briefly and flights diverted to neighbouring India, officials said, adding that there would be delays of up to one-and-a-half hours. Airforce spokesman Janaka Nanayakkara said gunners had brought down one of the light aircraft near the international airport where the military maintains its main air bases. "As one of the Tiger planes was fleeing, it was shot down near Katunayake," Nanayakkara said, adding that the body of a Tiger pilot had been recovered by troops. Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said the Tigers had bombed the main tax office, which caught fire. Several floors of the building were gutted. The building is located near the air force headquarters and close to a luxury hotel. However, there were no reports of foreign nationals among the casualties. Residents in Colombo said they heard blasts shortly after the electricity supply was cut off on Friday night, plunging the capital and its half-a-million inhabitants into darkness. Anti-aircraft batteries began firing into the night sky from several locations across the city. Military officials said they had tracked two aircraft of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), operating out of a narrow strip of land still under their control in the north-east of the island. The military has captured six out of the seven air strips known to be under LTTE control, but security forces have not taken any of the rebel aircraft used for attacks against military and civilian targets over the past two years. The last Tiger air strike in the capital was in October last year when they bombed a power station, but did not cause any casualties. However, the last major air strike was in September when they hit a military base in the north of the island causing considerable damage and killing a dozen security personnel. Two weeks earlier, the rebels had carried out an attack on the northeastern port town of Trincomalee, targeting the Sri Lankan navy. At least four people were killed and another 10 wounded. In October 2007, the Tigers launched a coordinated land and air attack against a key government air base and damaged a large fleet of aircraft, including spy planes. The Tigers were believed to operate five Czech-built Zlin-143 aircraft smuggled into the island in pieces and re-assembled. The latest air strike came as government forces claimed they had completely destroyed the conventional fighting capability of the Tigers. The military has claimed the upper hand in the latest ground battles, as the two sides trade claims over mistreatment of non-combatants in the drawn-out civil war. Tens of thousands of people have died since the Tigers launched a campaign in 1972 to carve out a homeland for minority Tamils in the majority Sinhalese island's north and east.
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