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LTTE targets “destroyed”

COLOMBO: The Air Force on Tuesday claimed to have destroyed “identified” Tiger targets in the north in a series of raids amid reports of intensified fighting along the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs).

The Defence Ministry said jets raided one of the “main strategic command and control centres” of the LTTE located Northwest of Puthukudiruppu.

However, the pro-LTTE TamilNet said two civilians were killed and two wounded when the jets bombed a suburb of Kilinochchi town, firing air burst bombs over the U.N. compound area with civilian settlements, 100 metres from UNICEF office near Kandasamy temple.

Separately, the Navy said two of its coastal patrol craft were fired upon by a boat that came along with a “cluster of Indian Fishing vessels in the Gulf of Mannar” on Monday.

It said one of the boats pretended to be in distress and requested assistance. When approached, the boats opened fire at the Navy vessel.

A Navy spokesman said the LTTE may have “hijacked” the Indian vessel or its cadre were disguised as fishermen. He claimed that 200 to 300 Indian fishing trawlers enter Sri Lankan waters a week despite the presence of the powerful Indian Navy and the Coast Guard on the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) between the two countries.

In another development, the military claimed that at least 12 LTTE cadre were killed in clashes erupted near the LTTE defences in Wanni.

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