S.Lankan Tamil Rebels Claim Responsibility for Int'l Airport AttackSri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels claimed responsibility on Sunday for their attack on the country's only international airport and an adjoining air base, about 30 kilometers north of capital Colombo, last month."Salute to our fallen heroes at the air base attack 24 July 2001," the website of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said. Thirteen LTTE rebels forced themselves into the air base on July 24 and destroyed 12 planes including four SriLankan Airline A330 and A340 airbuses and eight military aircraft. All 13 rebels who broke into the airbase either were killed or blew themselves up in the fighting while seven government soldiers also lost their lives. The devastating attack came on the anniversary of 1983 anti- Tamil riots that were considered to mark the watershed in Sri Lanka's 18-year bloody ethnic war which the LTTE rebels have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country. Following the attack the international insurance companies have imposed high war-risk insurance surcharge on flights to Colombo as well as for the vessels calling in port of Colombo. |
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