Colombo: Amidst fierce clashes between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in the Mannar and Wanni region, supersonic ground attack fighter jets of the Sri Lankan Air Force today bombed a LTTE Sea tiger base located at Allampil in the rebel-heartland of northern Mullaitivu area.

Pilots confirmed that the targeted LTTE sea tiger base was destroyed due to the bombardment, the Defence Ministry said. The air raid occurred at a time when the government troops and the fighting units of the LTTE locked regular fierce fighting in the north-western Mannar district.

There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE in this regard. At least 24 LTTE cadres have been killed during various clashes in the region yesterday, the ministry claimed, adding only a couple of soldiers were wounded during these sporadic clashes.

Claiming to have captured nearly a square kilometer ahead of their forward defences, the Defence Ministry said, Several confrontations took place at Parappakandal and Pallaikkuli areas in Mannar while the troops are on subsequent consolidating operations in recently liberated areas.

Meanwhile, Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka visited the Wanni Security Forces headquarters yesterday with several senior officers to assess the situation, with the government officially pulling out of the Norwegian brokered February 2002 ceasefire agreement.

 

Source : UNI