LTTE stages air and sea raids as military continues its offensive in Vanni

As the Sri Lankan military inducted a new fighting unit and continued its offensive attacks in Vanni, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) staged air and sea attacks on military targets outside Vanni.

On Saturday November 1, Sea Tigers launched naval convoy and fought a fierce sea battle off the island's northern coast.

According to LTTE sources 20 Sea Tigers attack craft took part in the battle in the seas off Naakarkoayil in Vadamaraadchi East Saturday morning from 5:15 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., sinking an SLN Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FAC) and a hovercraft.

Sea Tiger officials further said that SLN engaged 20 vessels in the clash, but was forced to withdraw after suffering casualties.

A water-jet vessel of the SLN sustained damage in the sea battle and was towed back to Kaangkeasanthurai (KKS) naval base.

The Tigers said their Sea Tiger commandos reached their base, after defeating the SLN.

Seven Black Sea Tigers laid down their lives in the operation, the Tigers said.

Eleven days earlier, the Sea Tigers attacked two Sri Lankan Navy supply ships in the same area sinking one and damaging the other.

Air Attack

On Tuesday, October 28, an LTTE air craft carried out an attack on Thallaadi military base, the main artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) launchpad of the Sri Lanka Army in Mannaar dropping three bombs on the base, inflicting heavy damage.

An hour later, another LTTE air craft dropped two bombs on Kelanitissa power station and returned to base safely.

The air raid at the Kelanitissa power station in Colombo late on Tuesday started a fire and killed one person and wounded two, hospital officials said.

Two turbines and air coolers sustained damage according to the sources in Colombo.

An MI-24 attack helicopter gunship of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), deployed in Vanni offensive, and a Bell helicopter used to transport the wounded soldiers from the battlefield, sustained damage in the bombing raid on the Sri Lankan garrison at Thallaadi in Mannaar, according to a reliable military source.

Sri Lankan military officials have claimed that there was no major damage caused by the Tiger air strike and said only one soldier had sustained injuries in the attack.

The raids on a Colombo power station and a northern military camp late on Tuesday are the eighth and ninth carried out by the "Air Tigers", known in the Tamil language as Vaanpuligal, since they shocked the world with their first attack in March 2007.