By Xinhua,
Colombo : Sri Lankan Air Force jets Thursday evening bombed a communication facility of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the northern part of the country, the military said in a statement.
The attack came shortly before the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabakaran delivered his annual “Hero’s Day” speech at a different location.
According to the defence ministry, Air Force jets pounded on the target at around 5 p.m. (1130 GMT). The extent of the damage has not been verified.
The rebel leader in his speech said that despite the current military setbacks suffered by the group, the LTTE would continue its military pursuits on behalf of the Tamil minority in the country.
He said the LTTE “wish to stop the war and seek a peaceful resolution to the national question of our people”.
The LTTE has been organising the “Hero’s Day” ceremony since 1989 to commemorate the death of one of their cadres on Nov 27, 1982 who became the first person to be killed in the decades old conflict.
Prabakaran usually reserves the speech to announce important policy decisions of the rebel organisation.
The Sri Lankan government said the rebels’ campaign for a separate Tamil state has neared its end, after government troops dislodged the insurgents from its strongholds in the north.
The LTTE has been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern part of the country claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese-dominated governments since mid-1980s. The decades old conflict has resulted in the death of more than 70,000 people.