Colombo: Tamil Tigers carried out a surprising pre-dawn air-and-ground assault on a military base in Sri Lanka's north on Tuesday, leaving 21 military personnel and rebels dead and many including two Indian radar engineers injured. The authorities said they had, for the first time, shot down one of the two Tiger planes, but the rebels denied it.
Two light-wing aircraft of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) flew into Vavuniya, 254 km north of here, around 4 am and bombed the base, the pro-LTTE website TamilNet reported. At the same time, LTTE ground troops fired artillery at the complex while Tiger commandos engaged in "calculated destruction".
TamilNet said the attack "devastated" the joint headquarters of Sri Lanka's military and air force for the Wanni region in the island's north, where heavy fighting is raging between government troops and the LTTE.
The military, however, said it thwarted the LTTE offensive in Vavuniya, 254 km north of here. But at least 10 rebels, including five women, 10 soldiers and a policeman were killed.
The defence ministry said the rebels used long-range artillery to fire at the base, from where jets take off and bomb LTTE areas.
"The terrorists opened fire on the army camp in order to prevent counter attack and directed their ground assault at the base. But soldiers moved forward amid heavy enemy fire and crushed the terrorists' ground assault completely," the ministry said.
"Ten bodies of LTTE cadres have been found. Ten soldiers laid down their lives and 15 others suffered injuries. One police constable was killed and eight sustained injuries due to enemy artillery fire," it said. Five air force personnel were also injured.
It said that air force jets intercepted "two LTTE light aircraft fleeing after the failed mission at Vavuniya and shot down one of the aircraft" in the skies over Muallaitivu.
The LTTE in an email statement to media Tuesday evening, however, denied the military claims. "The aircraft of the Air Tigers that participated in the sortie safely returned home," the LTTE statement said.
It said that "a Black Tiger unit" launched the predawn attack on the radar station situated in the Wanni Operational Headquarters of the Sri Lankan Armed forces at 03:05 am.
"Weaponry stores, communication tower, communication facility and antiaircraft guns were also destroyed in this attack."
But a defence spokesman told reporters in Colombo that "the objective of the LTTE air attack to destroy the radar system deployed in the Air Force base in Vavuniya was repulsed" due to the timely activation of Air Defence system at the base.
Mullaitivu, a dense jungle area which is considered the base for LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, is located 352 km northeast of Colombo and lies nearly 100 km north of Vavuniya.
Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi are the only two districts in Sri Lanka that the LTTE totally controls.
In Colombo, the Indian high commission admitted that two Indian radar technicians were wounded in the attack and had been shifted to Colombo for treatment.
"Two Indian technicians, who are in Sri Lanka for some time for routine servicing and maintenance of radars, have suffered injuries," mission spokesperson Dinkar Asthana said.
The pro-LTTE puthinam website alleged that the Tiger aircraft targeted a building where Indian-made 2-D Indra radars were housed.
The website did not say anything about Sri Lanka's claim of shooting down one LTTE aircraft. An Indian official in New Delhi also said that there was no independent confirmation that a Tiger plane had been brought down.
Air force spokesman Janakka Nanayakkara said that radars, most of them provided by India, picked up two LTTE aircraft as they neared Vavuniya, enabling the interceptor jets to carry out their mission in pursuing the rebel aircraft.
Residents in the town said they heard a barrage of artillery fire minutes before the low-flying LTTE planes entered Vavuniya air space. "The volleys of artillery fire by both sides shook the town and nearby villages," said a resident.
This is the sixth LTTE air attack since last year and the second in 15 days. But this is for the first time Sri Lanka's air force claimed to have destroyed any LTTE plane.
The LTTE, which is campaigning for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka's northeast, is believed to be in possession of an unknown number of Czech-built Zlin-Z-143 light-wing aircraft.
The military believes that the LTTE has suffered heavy losses due to constant air raids on Tiger reserves in Kilinochchi in recent days.
The military, which captured the northwestern district of Mannar last month, has declared it is now operating barely 12 km away from the rebel-heartland of Kilinochchi.
Tuesday's incident came a day after Colombo asked local and international aid workers to vacate Tiger-held territory at the earliest, saying their safely cannot be guaranteed.
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