13 troops, 20 rebels killed during battle at Sri Lankan air base
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: A group of Tamil Tiger suicide fighters, backed by the rebel group's tiny air wing, carried out a surprise pre-dawn attack on a Sri Lankan air force base Monday, setting off a huge battle that killed nine troops and 20 guerrillas, the military said.
Four other airmen were killed when their helicopter suffered mechanical failure and crashed as they were searching the area for rebel fighters, the military said.
The fighting at Anuradhapura air base deep inside government-controlled territory was one of the deadliest attacks on the air force in the 24-year-old civil war. It was the second attack on a military target far from the front lines in a week.
The raid damaged two helicopters and a training jet and injured 20 other airmen, the military said. It also stunned the Sri Lankan military as it was focused on fighting the rebels near their power base farther to the north.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said 21 members of the Black Tigers, the Tamil Tigers' suicide unit, broke into the base, shot up eight aircraft in a hangar and on the runway and then set them on fire. The rebels lost contact with the assailants after the battle, he said.
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Speaking by telephone from the base Monday afternoon, Air Marshall Roshan Goonetilleke, the nation's air force chief, said the attack would have no impact on the fight against the rebels.
"We need to keep our focus on the job that we are doing," he said. "We will get this base back to working tonight, hopefully."
The government said the attacks showed that the rebels were having trouble fending off the military along the borders of their de facto state.
"It's obvious that they are in total desperation from the success we are having in the north," said government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella.
The rebels, however, said the assault showed their continued ability to strike at the military at will.
The attack began about 3:20 a.m. when a group of rebel fighters created a diversion by firing at the eastern side of the base, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of rebel territory, said air force spokesman Group Capt. Ajantha Silva.
Another group of rebels then launched an attack on aircraft hangars at the opposite end of the base, he said.
As a huge firefight raged on, two light aircraft, part of the rebels' small air wing, dropped two bombs on the base and flew away unscathed, he said.
Residents near the base reported hearing loud explosions throughout the morning and seeing repeated barrages of anti-aircraft fire.
"We managed to kill all of those terrorists that came into the camp," Goonetilleke said.
The fighting ended after about six hours, military officials said. The military recovered the bodies of 20 slain rebels, Rambukwella said. Eight airmen and one soldier were also killed, Goonetilleke said.
Fighting in northern Sri Lanka has escalated in recent weeks ahead of what many believe is a planned government offensive to retake the area and crush the rebels.
Rambukwella said the attack would have no impact on the fighting.
The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for an independent homeland for minority ethnic Tamils after decades of discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting, 5,000 of them since a 2002 cease-fire broke down in late 2005.
The Tamil Tigers stunned the military in March when they launched their first-ever air assault, bombing an air force base near Colombo. They carried out several more attacks, including a strike on a fuel refinery and gasoline storage site, but have not waged an air strike in nearly six months.
In July, the government declared it had ousted the rebels from eastern Sri Lanka, forcing them to flee to their main base in the north. The rebels vowed to retaliate against military and economic installations throughout the country, but had launched no major assaults outside the main conflict zone since then.
However, last week the rebels attacked a military camp in a wildlife park far south of their home base, killing seven soldiers.
