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Air force bombs Tamil separatist base in northern Sri Lanka
Associated Press,
Thu February 8, 2007 11:45 EST .
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ Sri Lanka's air force bombed a Tamil rebel base in the country's volatile north on Thursday, the military said.
Air force fighter planes struck an insurgent naval base in rebel-held northern Mullaitivu district, said Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse, a senior Defense Ministry official.
Mullaitivu district is a key rebel stronghold where reclusive guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is believed to be living.
``Pilots have confirmed that they successfully took the target and the damages could be high,'' Rajapakse said.
However, the rebels said the air force bombed fishing settlements in Mullaitivu.
Tamil rebels have suffered a series of defeats, with government troops capturing several of their strategic enclaves in eastern Sri Lanka since September.
On Jan. 19, Sri Lankan troops seized a coastal strip in the east which according to the military was a main base for the Tigers' naval activities.
Separately on Thursday, seven police commandoes and two civilians were wounded when insurgents fired mortars into government-held Vavunathivu village in the eastern Batticaloa district, Rajapakse said.
The rebels have fought government troops since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils after decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
More than 68,000 people have been killed in the fighting, including some 3,600 fighters and civilians who died after violence escalated in late 2005.
Despite the fighting, both the government and the rebels claim that they are adhering to a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire.
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Published: Thu Feb 8 12:33:55 EST 2007
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