Suspect plane sparks Lanka alert, gunfire heard

Colombo, Apr 29: Sri Lanka's military went on alert late last night when radar detected a suspect plane, military sources said, and witnesses said they heard explosions and firing in the capital Colombo.

Hospital officials said two people who worked at a power station were being treated for gunfire wounds but no other details were immediately available.

''I can hear gunfire. I can see flashes going up into the sky above the city,'' a Reuters witness said. Residents said they had heard two explosions and power to the city had been cut.

''They have detected one suspect aircraft on radar,'' a military source said.

An air force spokesman said: ''The air defences were activated and we are doing a search now. I can't give you any more details yet.'' Some residents said they saw gunfire being directed at a plane flying overhead.

A Reuters correspondent at Colombo international airport said passengers had been told to get off their flights but were later told to re-embark.

The security alert came after a similar one late on Thursday when Sri Lankan authorities temporarily closed Colombo international airport after reports suspicious airplanes were seen flying south along the coast.

That air raid scare came two days after the Tamil Tiger rebels' newly unveiled air wing staged its second attack ever, dropping bombs on a military position in the north killing six people.

The rebels' first air strike was on the air force base next to Colombo airport, and it took the military by surprise.

Analysts believe the Tamil Tigers' air force consists of just two to five light propeller planes assembled from pieces smuggled in over time.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the rebels are officially known, want to create an independent state in the north and east of the island for ethnic minority Tamils.

Since 1983, the war in Sri Lanka has claimed some 68,000 lives, including more than 4,000 since late 2005. The intensified violence of the past 16 months has left a 2002 ceasefire in tatters.

Reuters>