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| Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lanka planes bomb rebel positions, country on alert |
| 2006-08-16 |
| COLOMBO - Sri Lankan war planes bombed Tamil Tiger positions Wednesday 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 defence 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. There was no immediate reaction from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to military claims that troops beat back a guerrilla offensive Tuesday against the town of Jaffna, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital. Jayawardena said the main aim of the LTTE was to retake Jaffna, part of ade facto separate state they ran from 1990 to 1995 until troops drove them out. In the latest fighting, the military lost at least 150 soldiers killed and over 300 wounded and said it killed over 250 guerrillas and hurt more than 300. The guerrillas said their losses in the first two days totalled only 22 dead. Tamil towns in the island’s north and east observed a strike Wednesday to protest against a bombing raid which the Tigers said killed 61 children in rebel-held territory Monday. Similar strikes gripped the island’s Muslim towns along the east of the island to protest alleged Tamil Tiger attacks against Muslims who form the second largest minority in the country after the Tamils. Shops and offices in Muslim towns closed and streets were deserted, residents said. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 All of which begs the core question: was the government attack DISPROPORTIONATE? /sarcasm off |
| Posted by: borgboy 2006-08-16 15:14 |