Sri Lanka Air Force Jets Destroy Tiger Rebel Base in North

Sri Lanka air force jets bombed and destroyed Thursday a base of separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Jaffna peninsula shortly after Britain banned the organization as a terrorist group.

Military spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said that the airforce jets carried out a series of bombing raids over targets of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in Iyakachchi, about four kilometers north of the Elephant Pass on Thursday morning.

All the rebel buildings have been confirmed to be destroyed and the casualties of LTTE rebels are not known, he said.

The air raid took place only hours after Britain included the LTTE in a list of 21 terrorist organizations in the world.

The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 in the north and east of the country for an independent state for minority Tamils. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the bloody war.






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