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| Sri Lanka |
| Warplanes bomb Tiger munitions dump amid Sri Lanka relief bid |
| 2006-08-22 |
| COLOMBO - Sri Lankan warplanes bombed a suspected Tamil Tiger munitions dump on Tuesday as a ship prepared to sail with food for tens of thousands cut off by fighting in the besieged Jaffna peninsula. Israeli-built Kfir jets attacked a Tiger position close to the frontline of fighting in the northern district where rebels 11 days ago launched a push to retake their former stronghold, the military said. In Colombo police said they had foiled a rebel attack after defusing a 15-kilogram (33 pound) mine rigged to a vegetable seller’s bike in a busy market area. Officials said they believed the fragmentation device may have been aimed at a Sri Lankan legislator. It followed an attack last week on Pakistan’s top envoy who escaped without injury while seven other people were killed. The military reported sporadic rebel mortar and grenade attacks in the northeast overnight before they launched air strikes against the Tamil Tiger position in the Jaffna peninsula. “Just after the air attack, we could hear secondary explosions,” a military official in the peninsula said. “It is most likely that their ammunition dump was hit.” The peninsula, home to some 350,000 civilians, has been cut off from the rest of the island by fighting that killed 159 troops and 487 rebels during the rebel offensive, according to the military. A partially-loaded ship carrying more than 1,000 tonnes of food and medicines was to leave Colombo for a two-day voyage Tuesday and the government said a second larger boat would follow in days. “The ship should go today as it is urgently needed,”said Peter Krakolinig, deputy head of the International Committee of the Red Cross team in Sri Lanka. The ICRC said a ferry was also planned for later this week to bring out some of the 400 to 500 foreigners believed trapped on the peninsula. They included aid workers and foreign passport holders of Sri Lankan origin visiting relatives. A convoy of 243 people including 61 foreigners was allowed to leave rebel-held territory in Kilinochchi, just south of Jaffna, after being trapped for more than a week, the ICRC said Tuesday. Fighting has cut off all road access to Jaffna and the UN said more than 41,000 people were believed to have fled their homes there. |
| Posted by:Steve |