Sri Lanka Airforce bombs rebel radar station and center

The Sri Lankan Airforce here Saturday claimed a Tamil Tiger rebel radar station in the island's north was bombed and destroyed in an air strike.

Wing Commander Andy Wijesuriya, the Airforce spokesman said the air raids were carried out at 11 a.m. local time (0530 GMT) at Nayaru 300 kms northeast of Colombo.

In the second air raid which took place at 2.10 p.m local time (0840 GMT) a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sea Tiger wing co-ordinating center located at Puthukudyiruppu in the Mullaithivu district was destroyed, the Airforce said.

The air raids came as a Sri Lankan Navy fast attack craft was destroyed in the early hours of Saturday in a sea mine explosion at Nayaru.

The explosion happened around 2 a.m. local time (2030 GMT). The Navy said six out of the 16 on board had survived the explosion while it had launched a search operation to find and rescue the rest of the sailors.

The LTTE rebels claimed that the Navy attack craft was destroyed by them where they lost three of their Black sea Tigers.

However the Navy rejected the rebel claim stating that there was no confrontation whatsoever in the areas.

The clashes are part of the ongoing military action in the north of the island in the separatist war waged by the LTTE rebels on behalf of the Tamil minority.

Source: xinhuanet.com