COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lankan war planes bombed a suspected base of the top Tamil Tiger leader in the island's north Wednesday as ground attacks killed at least two rebels, the defence ministry said Wednesday.
Aircraft hit a base of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Iranamadu where the separatists have a clandestine airfield, the ministry said. It gave no details of casualties or damage.
Military sources said six aircraft were deployed for the bombing raid based on intelligence reports that Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was receiving medical treatment at a jungle hideout in the region.
There was no immediate reaction from the guerrillas to the military statement.
Sri Lanka's military has already claimed either killing or wounding Tiger chieftain Prabhakaran, 53, in previous air attacks inside rebel-held territory.
The guerrillas have made no comment, but released pictures of the Tiger leader at meetings with his fighters.
The latest air attack came as the defence ministry said two suspected Tiger rebels were shot dead in skirmishes just outside the guerrillas' de facto mini-state on Tuesday.
Since the start of this month, Sri Lanka's defence ministry has said government forces have killed 594 rebels while just 26 soldiers have died.
The military's claims cannot be independently verified as journalists and human rights workers are not allowed access to the embattled region.
The bombing raid came a day after President Mahinda Rajapakse defended his decision to formally withdraw from a tattered 2002 truce with the LTTE at the same time as declaring he had no plans to advance into territory held by the guerrillas.
Rajapakse also stated that he did not believe in a military solution to the decades-old Tamil separatist campaign. But he said he would not negotiate with the LTTE until they stopped their armed struggle.
The remarks were in sharp contrast to earlier statements by the military and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse -- his own brother -- vowing to seize the rebels' mini-state and eliminate the guerrilla leadership.
The government, which believes it has gained the upper hand in the conflict, pulled out of the Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels this month.
|