| I dunno if I'd be too worried. It's hard to fly a plane while wearing a mask and waving an AK... |
British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jack Straw expressed serious concern at the acquisition of an unauthorised aircraft by the Tamil rebels when he met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in London, local newspapers reported yesterday. During a meeting with his counterpart, Straw said the development should be viewed with concern, especially in the context of the global war against terrorism and the fact that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was banned in the UK. "On the question of the LTTE aircraft, the UK was the one of the countries we wrote to sometime ago. The British government understands the dangers of having unauthorised aircraft in the hands of those without state power," the Daily News reported quoting Minister Kadirgamar.
| No mention of the type of aircraft but I'm guessing it isn't a Piper Cub. |
Kadirgamar said the co-chairs of the Sri Lankan peace process and India too have been apprised of the situation by the government as a first step to highlight the issue internationally. The LTTE chief peace negotiator Anton Balasingham last week told Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim at a meeting in London that the airstrip in rebel-held Kilinochchi existed before the Tigers entered into a ceasefire with the government in 2002. The statement was the first public confirmation that the Tigers have an airstrip amid government fears that the guerrillas are acquiring air power. Following the news of the LTTE forming and developing its own airpower with a airstrip and aircraft, Pakistan has pledged to supply Sri Lanka the facilities of a high-tech radar to minutely scrutinise the movements of planes in Tiger- held areas. | Google sez they may be ultra-lights: |
Liberation Tigers Air Wing leader, a former Air Canada employee, who was killed recently was specializing in teaching suicide bombing by micro light aircraft and was educated in aeronautical engineering and flying schools in Canada , intelligence reports show. Vythilingam Sornalingam, who was identified as "Colonel" Shankar in Tiger literature was killed by a claymore mine , September 26 in deep Wanni and was a close confidante and relative of Liberation Tiger Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The Tiger leader, Prabhakaran placed great importance in his relative's work and had purchased many micro light aircraft to train the flying Tigers to be used as suicide bombers, reports say. Micro light aircraft filled with explosives were to be used to explode large buildings with people under the alleged plans. |
