Sri Lankan jets blasted a hideout of the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels on Wednesday during an intensifying thrust to retake insurgent-held territory, the military said.

But a pro-rebel web site, www.tamilnet.com, said the attack was on a densely populated settlement of refugees, and it wounded two people including a 14-year-old boy. There was no independent confirmation of the strike on the building, which is in the Kilinochchi district roughly 300 km north of the capital Colombo.

Both sides routinely accuse the other of killing civilians and distort casualty figures to their benefit in what has been a long-running propaganda duel. Independent confirmation is difficult as the military bars media from the war zone. The military believes Velupillai Prabhakaran, the elusive founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is hiding somewhere in Kilinochchi district.

On Tuesday the military said they were within 5.5 km of Kilinochchi town, the LTTE’s defacto capital and a prized target as Sri Lanka’s armed forces try to finish a foe it has battled since 1983.

Fighter jets engaged a location frequented by the LTTE leader Prabhakaran in Vaddakachchi, Air Force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said. Pilots confirmed the location was completely destroyed.

Another air strike hit an LTTE ammunition store on the north of the island on Wednesday. Nanayakkara had no information on casualties.

Residents complained that Colombo had begun indiscriminate bombardment, as feared earlier ... after it instructed foreign aid workers to vacate, TamilNet said. It did not name any residents.