LTTE calls Trincomalee air strike ‘successful’
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) today claimed that the ‘Air Tigers’ carried out a successful air strike on the Eastern Headquarters of the Sri Lanka Navy located in the inner harbour of Trincomalee Tuesday at 9:15 p.m, according to media reports.
The LTTE also said their aircrafts safely returned to the base after carrying out the mission.
However, Sri Lanka Government media has said the LTTE air raid was ‘aborted’. It also said the intended LTTE target may have been ‘the base itself and the Jetliner troops carrier’.
Excerpts of report in Daily News.lk:
The aircraft had come in from the Mullaitivu side and was detected by the SLAF radars. The Security Forces activated the air defence mechanisms.
Anti-aircraft fire and tracer bullets ripped through the night sky, residents said. To
The sources said the main targets could have been the base itself and the Jetliner troops carrier which leaves Trincomalee for Jaffna with hundreds of Forces personnel. The ship movement was not affected. The aircraft withdrew from the area after anti-aircraft measures were activated.
Meanwhile an Independent Colombo based news website – Lanka Dissent said ‘6 naval personnel were killed and 24 injured in Air Tiger attack’.
The first LTTE air raid was on August 11th 2006 when two planes flew over Palaly and dropped a few bombs. In 2007, air attacks were carried out in locations near Colombo. The strike on Trincomalee harbour on August 26th was the 6th air attack carried out by LTTE.
Related: May 2007 ~ Flying Tigers Elevate Conflict to New Heights, by D.B.S. Jeyaraj
