allesennogwat
07-06-2007, 05:04 AM
COLOMBO - - Sri Lankan war planes bombed suspected Tamil Tiger positions on Friday, a day after the guerrillas marked the 20th anniversary of their first suicide bombing, the defence ministry said.
Three bombing sorties were carried out in the eastern district of Batticaloa and the northwestern Mannar region, the ministry said in a statement.
It said attacks in the east of the island were in support of ground troops trying to wrest control over the rebel-held Thoppigala jungle area.
There were no immediate reports of casualties and there was no comment from the Tigers who on Thursday marked their "Black Tiger" day, or the anniversary of their first suicide bombing staged 20 years earlier.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) released pictures of their chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, dressed in jungle camouflage military fatigues, offering a flower garland to the portrait of the first Black Tiger.
A guerrilla known as Captain Miller drove a truck bomb into an army camp on the Jaffna peninsula on July 5, 1987, killing 40 government soldiers.
The guerrillas said 322 members of the elite Black Tiger suicide units had perished in attacks so far.
The latest Black Tiger anniversary came amid an upsurge of fighting in Sri Lanka. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the new wave of bloodshed that began in December 2005.
The Tigers are fighting for an independent homeland for the minority ethnic Tamils on the majority Sinhalese island. The 35-year-old conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Three bombing sorties were carried out in the eastern district of Batticaloa and the northwestern Mannar region, the ministry said in a statement.
It said attacks in the east of the island were in support of ground troops trying to wrest control over the rebel-held Thoppigala jungle area.
There were no immediate reports of casualties and there was no comment from the Tigers who on Thursday marked their "Black Tiger" day, or the anniversary of their first suicide bombing staged 20 years earlier.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) released pictures of their chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, dressed in jungle camouflage military fatigues, offering a flower garland to the portrait of the first Black Tiger.
A guerrilla known as Captain Miller drove a truck bomb into an army camp on the Jaffna peninsula on July 5, 1987, killing 40 government soldiers.
The guerrillas said 322 members of the elite Black Tiger suicide units had perished in attacks so far.
The latest Black Tiger anniversary came amid an upsurge of fighting in Sri Lanka. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the new wave of bloodshed that began in December 2005.
The Tigers are fighting for an independent homeland for the minority ethnic Tamils on the majority Sinhalese island. The 35-year-old conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives.