Launching their first air strike, Tamil Tigers used a light aircraft to bomb a Sri Lankan Air Force base next to the Colombo international airport before dawn today, killing three airmen and leaving 16 wounded. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the raid was aimed at halting “indiscriminate” aerial bombing of Tamil areas and warned more such attacks would follow.

Airline and government officials said the civilian airport, 23 miles north of the capital, was not damaged but was closed for several hours following the attack. Four commercial flights that were on their way to Colombo this morning were diverted to Chennai. The flights returned to Colombo when the airport re-opened.

The rebels dropped three bombs from an aircraft that landed near the base’s engineering section just before 1 am, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. The military said the bombs hit barracks and none of its aircraft was damaged. One bomb did not explode.

Hours later, Air Force fighter planes bombed Tamil-held areas in northern Wanni district, the Tigers said in a statement. There were no casualties, said the statement, adding civilian property and farm lands were destroyed in the attack.

“A light Tiger aircraft flew over the Air Force base and dropped explosives. There have been two explosions. At the same time, our air defences activated and there is a search operation going on,” said Air Force spokesman Group Captain Ajantha de Silva.

But rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan claimed that the attack was carried out by two aircraft. “A couple of aircraft of Tamil Eelam Air Force have launched an attack on a Sri Lankan military airfield and hangars of military aircraft,” he said by telephone. He said the aircraft had flown back to the Tigers’ northern stronghold after what he called a “successful mission”.

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