Sri Lanka launches new strikes, LTTE vows reprisals

Updated at 5.20 pm

COLOMBO: More than 15,000 people fled their homes in LTTE-held northeastern Sri Lanka on Wednesday as military air strikes continued, rebels said.

Villagers were on the move in the district of Trincomalee where the military launched air strikes shortly after suspected Tamil Tiger guerrillas carried out a suicide bombing in the capital on Tuesday, the pro-rebel Tamilnet website reported.

It said a Tamil Tiger front organisation had arranged temporary shelter and cooked food for the refugees.

"These families started walking toward Pattalipuram while Sri Lanka airforce Kfir jets resumed bombing Wednesday early morning," the Tamilnet said.

Government officials said they had no information about what was happening in areas held by the rebels.

However, the government Wednesday said it will continue air strikes against positions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as long as the rebels attacked government forces.

The military said two people were killed and nine injured Wednesday when Tigers fired mortar bombs at a jetty in the Muttur area in the Trincomalee district.

The air attacks targeted the northeastern district of Trincomalee where the military bombed a cluster of boats of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) late on Tuesday, an area police official said. 

Tiger rebels launched a mortar attack in response, killing two civilians and wounding eight, the military said.   

"Tigers fired mortars at the Thakwanagar naval detachment and that is when the civilians were wounded," a military official said, adding two navy sailors were among the eight hurt.   

Israeli-built Kfir jets and Ukranian MiG-27 aircraft carried out the air attacks after an overnight bombardment that involved multi-barrel rocket launchers, artillery and naval fire from gunboats, the military said.   

"The air attacks resumed this morning after a break overnight," a police official in Trincomalee said. Tiger rebels said the bombings violated a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement and asked truce monitors if Colombo had declared full-scale war, the pro-rebel Tamilnet website said.

The LTTE's Trincomalee district leader S. Elilan asked the Swedish-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to "clarify" whether the military has launched a "full-scale war violating the ceasefire agreement." 

It said there was "severe damage" to life and property in rebel-held areas, but gave no details.   The military said on Tuesday night it acted in self defence and carried out the bombings in Trincomalee after guerrillas shelled military positions in the region.

The air assault followed Tuesday's suicide bombing of the army chief's motorcade in Colombo which left Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka badly wounded and 10 others dead.   

Washington led international condemnation of the attack blamed on a "Black Tiger" female suicide bomber who pretended to be pregnant.   

"It's regrettable that the Tamil Tigers have decided to restart the war instead of restarting the peace process," US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher said.   

"We are in touch with governments around the world to bring to bear whatever pressure we can on the Tamil Tigers to abandon this course of action."   

The state-run Daily News said the suicide bomber used maternity day to enter the military compound. Mothers-to-be entering the Army Hospital for the weekly maternity day are not subject to stringent security checks, the report said.   

The suicide attack put intense pressure on a shaky four-year ceasefire between the government and the rebels, which was already close to collapse.   

At least 80 people have died in bombings in the past two weeks while Tamil rebels say 70 civilians have been killed by pro-government militia or security forces, a charge denied by the military.   

Last week the Tigers indefinitely pulled out of planned peace talks in Switzerland, accusing the government of attacks on Tamil civilians and complaining about transport arrangements for internal rebel meetings.  

"This attack is yet another serious blow to the ceasefire agreement and the peace process," the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said in a statement before the government launched retaliatory strikes. 

President Mahinda Rajapakse vowed to stand up to "terrorism" in a televised address to the nation after the Colombo bombing.   

However despite the retaliatory strikes, the government also insisted it remained committed to the Norwegian-brokered peace process and expected the rebels to return to talks aimed at ending three decades of civil war.

The Tigers are fighting for a homeland for the Tamil minority in the northeast, parts of which already fall under the de facto control of the guerrilla group.