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| Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lankan helicopter gunships fire rockets at rebels |
| 2007-02-07 |
| Sri Lankan helicopter gunships rocketed Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s far northeast on Tuesday, the military said, but there was no word on casualties. The attack in the north-eastern district of Trincomalee comes just days after President Mahinda Rajapakse vowed to defeat and tame the Tigers while offering to resume peace talks to end a new chapter in their two-decade civil war. “There was a gathering in Kaddawan jungle in the north of Trincomalee district. Air force helicopters took air targets this morning,” said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. “The presence of LTTE cadres there was a threat to our air force and naval detachments there,” he said, referring to the Tigers’ official name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The Tigers said they had no immediate details on any damage from the air attack, which comes after clashes and attacks in the northern district of Vavuniya and Trincomalee on Monday that killed three security forces personnel and wounded four. The Tigers laugh off Rajapakse’s calls to surrender arms, and say they do not trust his government to be sincere at talks - instead vowing to fight on for independence. |
| Posted by:Fred |