LTTE air strikes a desperate attack: Sri Lankan govt

February 21, 2009 – 8:20 am

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Colombo, Feb 21: A kamikaze-style attack by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers on the capital Colombo may have been a last ditch attempt by the rebels to delay their defeat after 37 years of fighting, according to the government.

“This is a desperate attack,” said Keheliya Rambukwella, the government’s Defence spokesman. “They may be trying to divert attention from their defeats in the north.”

“Very soon, this problem will be over,” Rambukwella said, adding that security forces hoped to completely crush the Tigers “in a matter of days.”

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports stated that Sri Lankan President Rajapakse has admitted that the pictures that appeared on a pro-LTTE website on Saturday and show rebel chief Prabhakaran with two pilots who allegedly flew planes over Colombo yesterday, could have been taken recently.

However, the country’s Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa while talking to a private news channel, said that the photographs don’t have any significance as far as the Lankan government is concerned. He also asserted that Prabhakaran was free to release as many pictures of his as he wanted but it cannot be denied that the militant outfit has finally been cornered.

After yesterday’s attack which killed two of LTTE’s own pilots while wounding over 50 others, forensic experts today began combing through the rubble at the 16-storey Inland Revenue building, where the light plane crash set off explosions and a major fire.

“Forensic investigations have just begun,” state Revenue Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said. “There is extensive damage to the 13th floor where the aircraft crashed, but in other areas there is only minimal damage.”

The minister said the tax office should be able to resume work “in two or three days.” Shortly after the attack, firemen and air force units recovered parts of the aircraft from the building.

“We have found a blown off arm of the pilot on an upper floor,” an Air Force officer told reporters, adding early indications were the aircraft was carrying at least two bombs.

The Tigers are believed to have had five Czech-built Zlin-143 aircraft smuggled into the island in pieces and re-assembled. It is not known how many they have left after the government launched its all-out offensive.

The guerrillas have now lost over 98 percent of the territory they once controlled and are confined to an area of less than 100 square kilometres (38 square miles) along a coastal jungle stretch in the island’s northeast.

And while Sri Lankan troops have said they have taken all the air strips used by the Tigers, Friday night’s attack could have been launched from a stretch of paved road in an area still under rebel control.

The Indian Air Force has also issued an alert to its Southern Command in the wake of last night’s air strike by the LTTE.