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Sri Lanka Says Rebel Air Raid Was Last Gesture Before Defeat
bloomberg.com,
Feb 22, 2009.
Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka said an air raid by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the capital, Colombo, three days ago was a last gesture before the “inevitable” defeat of the rebels.
“Security forces have put in the last nails on the LTTE’s rudimentary air capability,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. “LTTE terrorists are now in all dire straits and this loss underscores the inevitable” defeat of the group.
Two aircraft were shot down in the raid, one of them crashing into a building housing the Inland Revenue Department and the second coming down north of the city. The Tamil Tigers revealed they had an air wing in March 2007 when propeller-driven aircraft flew 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the north to attack a military installation near Colombo.
Sri Lanka’s army says it is poised to defeat the Tamil Tigers and end their 26-year fight for an independent homeland after capturing their main bases in the north in January. The United Nations is leading international calls for a cease-fire, saying an estimated 250,000 civilians are caught in the fighting and need food and medicines.
The Tamil Tigers now control a pocket of only 87 square kilometers (34 square miles) in the Mullaitivu region in the northeast, the Defense Ministry said yesterday. LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabkaharan “may have thought to showcase a stunt out of his sleeves,” by staging the air raid, it said.
The two pilots were killed and more than 45 people injured in the attack.
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Published: Sun Feb 22 21:36:40 EST 2009
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