22-02-2008

Tamil rebels say eight killed in Sri Lanka air strike

COLOMBO (AFP) - At least eight civilians died in an air attack in northern Sri Lanka Friday, Tamil Tiger rebels said after the military announced an escalation of strikes against the rebels

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said eight civilians, including three children, were killed and another 10 wounded when war planes hit a village inside rebel-held territory.

"Two children aged five and six from the same family and an infant from another home are among those killed as a bomb fell on their home," the LTTE said in a statement.

The defence ministry, however, said the air force had bombed a naval facility of the Tamil Tigers who operate a fleet of vessels that challenge the Sri Lankan navy.

The ministry said war planes stepped up bombing raids inside Tamil Tiger-controlled territory a day after intense ground battles left at least 95 people dead.

The Tigers are fighting for independence for Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils concentrated in the north and east of the island.

The latest air raids came after the ministry said 92 Tamil rebels and three government soldiers were killed in battles for a bunker line in the north on Wednesday.

According to the defence ministry, some 1,450 rebels have been killed so far this year. The military estimates the rebel strength at 5,000 combatants.

The military said 83 soldiers and police have been killed in 2008.

Casualty figures provided by both sides differ wildly and cannot be independently verified since the government bars journalists and human rights workers from frontline and rebel-held areas.

The Sri Lankan government last month officially pulled out of a truce with the rebels, who have fought for more than three decades for a homeland in the Sinhalese-majority island.

Source-AFP