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Sri Lankan jets pound key LTTE sites

KANDY (SRI LANKA): For the second consecutive day, the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) claimed to have targeted “identified LTTE strategic locations” in the north and inflicted heavy damage on the Tigers.

A statement by the Defence Ministry claimed that Air Force fighter jets pounded “an LTTE strategic location” in Kilinochchi and said it was the militant organisation’s coordinating centre for international activities.

“The targeted location was identified as a key LTTE location where most of the LTTE top leaders used to visit regularly to discuss international activities of the outfit”, it said.

The Ministry said the Air Force had raided the same place in April and killed Kalaialagan, the second in-command of the LTTE’s coordinating centre for international activities.

On Thursday, the Ministry claimed to have destroyed a “major LTTE facility” at Vellamullavaikkal, north of Mulaithivu even as pitched battles continued between the military and the LTTE along the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) in the north.

The Ministry claimed that LTTE was conducting a special training session at the facility. It said the facility was functioning since 2001.

“The aerial raid was launched following ground surveillance and real time air reconnaissance information”.

For months now, the SLAF has been targeting supposed LTTE facilities in the east. The LTTE political wing chief, S.P. Thamilchelvan died in an aerial attack on November 2 and military has claimed that LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran was injured in another raid on November 26 and 28. The LTTE has denied the later incident.

The military also alleged that the Tigers triggered a series of claymore explosions killing at least seven civilians. Separately, the military claimed that four cadres of the LTTE were killed in a confrontation at Muhamalai in Jaffna.

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