Sri Lankan jets bombed and destroyed a northern Tamil Tiger naval base on Thursday, the military said, a day after a fierce sea battle that killed up to 52 rebels and navy sailors. The bombing raid by MiGs and Israeli-made Kfir jets is the latest in a series of air strikes in recent months as President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government seeks to destroy the Tigers militarily to end a new chapter in a 25-year civil war. “They hit a Sea Tiger special training base in Mullaittivu. They say it was completely destroyed”, said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.
The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the raid, and instead sent an email situation report saying they had thwarted an army bid to infiltrate their defence line in the Jaffna peninsula. They said they had killed one soldier in the incident. They made no mention of the air force bombing sortie.
As always, there was no independent account of what happened or what the fighter jets hit.
Four killed: In separate incidents, four civilians, including a 10-year-old child, were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the northern district of Vavuniya, which the military blamed on the Tigers. An elite commando was killed when a mine strapped to a bicycle exploded in the eastern district of Batticaloa.
The air force raid came a day after navy attack boats battled a flotilla of Tamil Tiger vessels off the islandÂ’s northwest tip, destroying 11 rebel craft and killing an estimated 40 insurgents, the military said. Eleven navy sailors were missing and presumed dead. A dozen navy fast-attack craft sank four of the rebel vessels, helicopter gunships and fighter jets sank another five, and two rebel suicide vessels were destroyed when they rammed a navy boat that was badly damaged.
“The body of one (dead) sailor was found and 11 are missing, presumed dead”, Nanayakkara said. Two other sailors who were on board the damaged vessel were rescued unharmed, he added.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said late on Wednesday they sank one navy attack boat and badly damaged another. They said four of their suicide fighters died in the clash.