Tamil Tiger planes destroyed after Colombo attack

Colombo: Two planes operated by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were shot down by anti-aircraft fire after a raid on Sri Lanka's capital of Colombo, the country's Ministry of Defense said.

At least two people were killed and more than 45 people were hurt late yesterday when one of the planes crashed into a building housing the Inland Revenue Department, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The plane was carrying at least two bombs when it flew into the building in a “kamikaze-style attack'' that gutted several floors, Agence France-Presse reported, citing witnesses and an unidentified Air Force officer.

The other plane was destroyed while trying to escape, and the body of its pilot found near Katunayake air base, about 22 miles (39 kilometers) north of Colombo, the ministry said. Six people were hurt when it crashed.

Sri Lanka briefly shut the island's only international airport, which shares its runway with the Katunayake base, and diverted flights to India after the attack.

The Tigers last struck the capital by air in October when they bombed a power station without causing any casualties, AFP said.

Trapped in fighting

An estimated 250,000 people have been caught in fighting since January as the army inflicts the worst defeats on the LTTE in the group's 26-year fight for a separate Tamil homeland in the South Asian island nation.

At least two bombs were dropped by the aircraft in the Slave Island area, where the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Air Force is based, according to TamilNet, an independent news agency that provides news, features and opinions from a Tamil perspective.

The revenue department, located across the street from the Air Force headquarters, was on fire, TamilNet reported, citing identified people in the military. The power was cut in both Colombo and Jaffna, and Air Force fighter jets were flying over a coastal area north of Colombo, TamilNet said.

United Nations envoy John Holmes, who is touring Sri Lanka, told government officials in Colombo Feb. 19 that the army and the Tamil Tigers must protect civilians caught in the conflict in the north.

Trading charges

Sri Lanka's government says the Tamil Tigers are holding about 70,000 people against their will. The Tamil Tigers accuse the military of shelling and bombing civilian areas and say people remain in LTTE-held areas on their own free will and don't want to be placed in government-run transit camps.

The Tamil Tigers and the army are responsible for an increase in civilian casualties in the past month with an estimated 2,000 people killed and 5,000 wounded, Human Rights Watch said in a report this week, citing independent monitors in the conflict zone.

The LTTE should stop shooting at civilians trying to flee to government-controlled territory and move its fighters away from populated areas, Human Rights Watch said. Those who managed to escape are being held in “squalid'' military-controlled camps with little access to the outside world, it said.