Taking objection to the training being imparted to Sri Lankan Air Force personnel at an Indian Air Force base near Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalaithaa on Thursday urged the Centre to immediately cancel the programme and send back the personnel to the island nation.
The LTTE has been conducting multi-pronged war exercises at the facility when it was hit by the jets, the defence ministry said. "The LTTE's Kilinochchi leadership is yet to reveal losses," the army said citing intercepted communication.
Over five Sri Lankan Air Force personnel were killed and two MI-24 helicopters damaged in a pre-dawn attack by Tamil Tiger rebels on an air base at the North-Central Anuradhapura district in Sri Lanka, the military said. ''First a group of LTTE cadres infiltrated the Anuradhapura SLAF Base and launched the initial attack around 3.20 am. Later, at least two LTTE light aircrafts carried out an air attack on the base, destroying two MI-24 helicopters,'' military spokesman said.
As Prabhakaran was leaving his house, Rajiv Gandhi called his son Rahul and asked him to fetch his (Gandhi's) bulletproof jacket. He put the jacket on Prabhakaran's back and remarked with his usual charming smile: "Take care of yourself."
On the night of July 5, the Tigers launched their first kamikaze operation. Miller took the wheels of the explosive-packed truck, smiled at everyone as he turned the ignition key and drove it slowly towards the Sri Lankan military camp. A few moments later all of Jaffna heard a thunderous explosion that brought the complex crashing down in clouds of dust. Miller had given birth to a deadly tactic that Prabhakaran would employ time and again with devastating consequences to Sri Lanka -- and India. A fascinating excerpt from M R Narayan Swamy's must read new book, The Rout Of Prabhakaran.
"The High Commission categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recent reported travel of @gotabayar @Realbrajapaksa out of Sri Lanka," the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka tweeted.
Thirteen people accompanied Rajapaksa to the Maldives. They arrived in an AN32 aircraft, according to TV news channels.
Air Force spokesperson Wing Commander Andi Wijesoriya said the target has been a regular visiting place of Prabhakaran. Fighter pilots have confirmed that the target was accurately hit, he added.
Sri Lankan Air Force pounded identified LTTE hideout located in the jungles south of Puthukudiyirippu, Mullaittivu, believed to be frequented by top Tamil Tiger leadership, including supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. According to Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara, Air Force spokesperson, the air raids targeted the hideout believed to be frequented by Prabhakaran.
Fresh from their success in capturing the entire North-western coast, the Sri Lankan Air Force fighter jets on Sunday pounded bunkers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and seized hundreds of arms and ammunitions while recovering the bodies of two militants, officials said.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was injured last month during an aerial raid by Sri Lankan Air Force jets, the government confirmed on Wednesday night.
The Sea Tiger chief Soosai was reported missing after the Sri Lankan Air Force jets pounded his hideout killing at least 27 rebels, even as 5,000 civilians crossed over to the army held areas in Wanni, officials said on Saturday. It was immediately not confirmed whether Soosai was killed or wounded in the attack, but he was reportedly missing.
Eight Sri Lankan Air Force personnel who came to Tambaram Air Force station in Chennai on Monday for training have been sent back to their country, following a demand made by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to the Centre. The personnel were sent back to Sri Lanka on Tuesday night after instructions in this regard were issued by the Centre, an official release said on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan Air Force jets on Thursday bombed and destroyed a key LTTE facility occupied by senior rebel leaders as a series of clashes in the island's embattled north left at least 40 Tamil Tigers dead.
In two letters purportedly written in Tamil by a suicide bomber Colonel Rooben, one of the Black Air Tigers, who the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam claims that flew the LTTE aircraft that hit the headquarter of Sri Lankan Air Force and its base near Colombo on Friday, has urged the Tamils of Tamil Nadu and of the Vanni area of Sri Lanka to join the outfit's military battle against the Lankan government.
'Although the nature of the injuries is minor, he had been treated in an underground facility in a secret location in the Wanni by the LTTE's Thileepan Medical Unit, the official emergency care unit of the LTTE,' the Nation newspaper reported quoting sources.
A senior Congress leader in Tamil Nadu on Friday alleged that Liberation Ttigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran could be responsible for the recent killing of the outfit's political wing leader S P Tamilselvan in a Sri Lankan Air Force raid.
About 300 protestors from parties like MDMK, Indian National League and Tamil National Movement courted arrest along with the two leaders near the Munroe statue in Chennai while trying to go ahead with the rally.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror in a report quoting military intelligence said the LTTE chief may have suffered only a minor bruise in his right shoulder.
Two aircraft carried out the attacks on oil storage facilities near Colombo.
Vowing to continue the liberation struggle despite the death of LTTE's political head S P Thamilselvan in an aerial raid, Tamil Tigers' elusive supremo V Prabhakaran has said Sri Lankan security forces "cruelly killed the peace dove" by targeting the outfit's senior leader.
P Nadesan, LTTE's police chief, has been appointed the new head of the outfit's political wing to succeed the slain rebel leader S P Thamilselvan, who was honoured by the elusive Tiger supremo V Prabhakaran hours after he was killed in a raid by the Sri Lankan Air Force.
"The air strikes were a sequel to the constant mortar attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam against the forward defence line of the Army," a statement from the ministry said.
A senior Sri Lankan defence ministry official said since intelligence reports have 'confirmed' that Prabhakaran sustained injuries on November 26, there could be an attempt by the Tiger leader to go to India for treatment if the medical facilities in Killinocchi or Mullaithivu were not sufficient to treat him.
Air Force spokesman, Group Captain Ajantha Silva confirmed that the air force had bombed some targets in the LTTE-held areas in the Eastern province, but refused to divulge what they were.
In a statement, the LTTE said it was "conveying the loss of S P Thamilselvam with profound sadness to the people of Tamil Elam, Tamil diaspora and the global community."
The successful air strike at Kilinochi will encourage the SLAF to re-double its efforts for a decapitation strike on Prabhakaran himself
The use of the LTTE's air force for the first time means that the war in Lanka is likely to intensify.
Sri Lanka has sought the helicopters to take some 750 soldiers daily between Colombo and the northern base at Palaly
According to the book, 'Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away With War Crimes', authored by UK-based investigative journalist Phil Miller India's secret use of British mercenaries lasted for four months after the Indo-Lanka accord was signed between former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Sri Lankan president Junius Jayewardene in 1987.
The National Tawheed Jamath is suspected of plotting the deadly Easter blasts.
Nearly 200 people were feared to have been buried alive in Sri Lanka after a devastating landslide triggered by rains destroyed the homes of mostly Indian-origin plantation workers, as heavy machinery was deployed on Thursday in rescue operations involving the army.
The visit and the agenda is mainly to re-emphasise the traditional connect between India and Sri Lanka, particularly in the context of Buddhism, which is a shared heritage.
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