TIGER AIRCRAFT BOMBS AND DAMAGES TWO SMALL PETROLEUM CENTERS IN COLOMBO AND RETURNS

By Walter Jayawardhana

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam air craft bombed a Shell gas distribution facility in Colombo and destroyed three buildings in the facility and also a small petroleum distribution facility at Kolonnawa East of the center of the city.

Shell Lanka Ltd. jointly owned by the petroleum giant and the government of Sri Lanka said in a statement that there had been an explosion in their facilities and three buildings had been damaged. A small distribution facility of petroleum at Kolonnawa also had been bombed by the LTTE aircraft.
Fire engines had been called to put out the fires at the two places.

As the Katunayaka international Airport was briefly closed an international flight of Sahara Airlines was diverted to Chennai Airport but the airport resumed operations.

Sri Lanka armed forces went on an alert after Air Force radars detected a suspect airplane, the country’s Ministry of Defense sources said. Meanwhile civilians in the city said they saw gunfire being directed at a low flying aircraft in the city.

People in Colombo said they could hear gun fire and they saw flashes above the city as the military went to an alert situation.

A military spokesman said , “We have detected one air craft on the radar.”But the pro-LTTE news websites said the LTTE aircraft successfully bombed their targets and returned to their base.
The Ministry of Defense published a terse statement dated April 29 saying the military has detected a suspicious air movement. It said, “Sri Lanka Air Force activated its air defence systems in Colombo and Katunayake due to a suspicious air movement around 1:45 a.m today, the Sunday the 29th of April. Sri Lanka Air Force activated its air defence systems in Colombo and Katunayake due to a suspicious air movement around 1:45 a.m today, the Sunday the 29th of April. More information will follow.”

Colombo’s General Hospital said two people who were working at a power station are being treated for gun shot injuries. The city was engulfed in darkness as the power had been cut. Civilians reported gun fire being directed at a low flying aircraft. The power was cut when thousands of people were glued to their TV sets watching the final cricket match between the Australian and Sri Lanka teams for World Cup.

Airport sources at the country’s international Airport said at first, passengers in a civilian plane had been asked to get-off a plane but later they were asked to re-embark. Sri Lanka Air Force base is situated adjacent to the International Airport.

On Thursday April 26 the military performed an alert exercise and temporarily closed the Colombo International Airport adjacent to the Air Force base after air planes were reported coming along the Western coast flying from North to South.

Two days before that the Tamil Tiger airplanes dropped bombs inside and close to Palali military air base killing six military personnel in the North.

The LTTE built airstrips and smuggled in two to five light propeller driven aircraft using a Norway brokered peace accord signed between former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The former civilian aircraft had been modified to drop home made bombs.