Two killed, 44 injured in LTTE airstrike in Colombo
Updated at: 2331 PST, Friday, February 20, 2009
Two killed, 44 injured in LTTE airstrike in Colombo COLOMBO: At least two people were killed and 44 others wounded in a Tamil Tiger air attack against the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Friday night, a doctor said.
The victims were rushed to the main Colombo National hospital, mostly suffering from shrapnel wounds, hospital director Hector Weerasinghe said.
Military officials said one of the light aircraft was shot down near the international airport while the wreckage of the second plane was found inside the bombed Inland Revenue building in the capital.
Tamil Tiger rebels carried out a possible suicide attack and bombed Sri Lanka's main tax office in the capital Colombo on Friday night, military officials said.
At least 44 people were injured, according to a doctor at the main hospital where the wounded were taken, after the aircraft hit the building and detonated a bomb.
Sri Lanka's air force said anti aircraft guns shot down one of the light aircraft as it was trying to get away after flying over the capital, while the wreckage of the other was found inside the Inland Revenue building.
The country's only international airport was shut down and flights diverted to neighbouring India, officials said.
Airforce spokesman Janaka Nanayakkara said gunners had brought down one of the light aircraft near the international airport where the military maintains its main air bases.
"As one of the Tiger planes was fleeing, it was shot down near Katunayake," Nanayakkara said, adding that the body of a Tiger pilot had been recovered by troops.
Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said the Tigers had bombed the main tax office, which was on fire.
Residents in Colombo said they heard blasts shortly after the electricity supply was cut off on Friday night, plunging the capital and its half-a-million inhabitants into darkness. Anti-aircraft batteries began firing into the night sky from several locations across the city.
Military officials said they had tracked two aircraft which they believed to be those of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), operating out of a narrow strip of land still under their control in the north-east of the island.
The military has captured six out of the seven airstrips known to be under LTTE control, but security forces have not taken any of the rebel aircraft used for attacks against military and civilian targets over the past two years.
