By IRNA,
New Delhi : In daring strikes, Tamil Tiger aircraft bombed a power plant in the Sri Lankan capital and an army camp in northwestern Mannar, showing a sign of defiance as rebel combatants continued to be under siege in their nerve center of Kilinochchi.
The raids, the first air attacks by the LTTE in six weeks which left one person dead and three soldiers wounded, came late Tuesday night as government troops closed in on the rebels’ administrative headquarters in the island’s north.
The aircraft first bombed the Thallaadi military base in Mannar at around 1100 hours and carried out the daring attack on the power plant on outskirts of Colombo 15 minutes later, Indian official media reported.
“LTTE aircraft attacked a military camp in Thallaadi and then dropped two bombs over the capital,” a defence official said adding, the blasts have caused minor damage to the power plant in Grand Pass area.
The authorities in Colombo apparently detected a suspicious aircraft flying over the capital shortly before the strikes and switched off power in and around the city.
The electricity was restored after one hour.
Sri Lankan Navy fired anti-aircraft guns in the sky to prevent any attack on the harbour, an official said.
The LTTE had carried out an air and ground attack on a military establishment in the northern town of Vavuniya in September, killing 11 soldiers.
Ten Tiger suicide commandos also died in the attack. The Tamil Tigers are believed to operate five Czech-built Zlin-143 aircraft smuggled onto the island and reassembled.
According to military sources, the rebels operate more than one airstrip in areas under their control.
The military had earlier claimed to have shot down one of the aircraft after the Vavuniya attack but the rebels denied the report.
After the attack, military officials said, the Sri Lankan fighters scrambled their Air Force jets who carried out search missions over the rebel-held areas.
The Tiger air attacks came as the military pushed further into Kilinochchi with Defence Ministry saying their troops are just 15 kms short of the town.