Sri Lanka jets bomb rebels, 4 troops die in clash

Colombo, May 30: Sri Lankan fighter jets bombed a Tamil Tiger logistics base in the island's far north today, hours after insurgents killed four soldiers in a clash in the northwest, the military said.

The air strike near the rebel-held town of Puthukkudiyiruppu in the far north of the tear-drop shaped Indian Ocean island is the latest in a series of raids as the military pushes on with a declared plan to destroy Tiger war assets.

There were no immediate details of any casualties, or independent confirmation of what the jets hit. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were not immediately available for comment.

''The air force took targets south of Puthukkudiyiruppu and bombed an LTTE logistics base,'' a spokesman at the Media Centre for National Security said, declining to give his name in line with protocol. ''It was successful.'' In a separate incident earlier in the day, Tiger fighters killed four soldiers in a clash in the northwest district of Mannar, where the Tigers control a swathe of territory. The military said it believed two Tigers were also killed.

Fighting is now focused on the north after the military captured the Tigers' eastern stronghold, and today's clash is the latest in a string of land and sea battles in recent months. Around 4,000 people have been killed since last year alone.

The International Committee of the Red Cross today resumed operations along defence lines in the north that are now the front line of the island's two-decade civil war.

They pulled back a week ago because of safety concerns following gunfire and mortar fire nearby.

''The ICRC has decided that its personnel will resume their presence ... for three days a week,'' it said in a statement.

The government has vowed to destroy the Tigers militarily, while the rebels say they will step up attacks using a homegrown air force of light planes as part of their fight for an independent state.

Analysts say there is no clear winner on the horizon and fear a protracted conflict that has already killed nearly 70,000 people since 1983 could rumble on for years.

Reuters

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