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K Venkataramanan in Colombo
Twenty-three people, including 15 policemen, were killed when Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels attacked a police station near Ampara in eastern Sri Lanka in the wee hours on Tuesday, a defence spokesman said.
Two civilians and six LTTE cadres were also killed in the attack.
Later in the day, the military retaliated with air strikes against the rebels.
A fierce gun-battle followed the pre-dawn attack at the police station that also left three LTTE militants dead, Brig Sanath Karunaratne said.
At least 18 policemen were injured and 29 T-56 assault rifles stolen from the station, he said.
The rebels struck at around 0030 hrs (local time) firing on the Central Camp police station, a suburb of Ampara town, about 250 km from Colombo.
They also fired at a nearby camp of the Special Task Force, an elite police division fighting militancy in the east.
The police believed that the STF camp was fired at to prevent timely induction of reinforcements, but policemen away from the station at the time of the attack, fired at the militants from the rear.
Brig Karunaratne said the main armoury was intact. The militants, at least three of whom were killed and seven wounded, took away three bodies of policemen.
This is the first major attack by the militant group after the July 24 onslaught on the Katunayake Air Force base and international airport near Colombo.
PTI
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