ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS FIRED AT SUSPICIOUS AIRCRAFT OVER AIRFORCE BASE IN COLOMBO

By Walter Jayawardhana

Sri Lanka Air Force has engaged its air defense weapons at a suspicious air craft observed in the Katunayake sky short while ago, said the Sri Lanka Defense website in a statement issued at midnight on Friday April 27.

“The suspicious air move has been detected by the air defense radar around 10.45 p.m ,” the defense website further said.

The air defense weapon systems have been activated targeting the suspicious air craft in order to avoid possible terror air raid at the Air Force camp. The Air Force sources further confirmed that no air raid has taken place and the Air Force base is safe, the defense website, further reported . The Air Force base is located at Katunayaka, adjacent to the Colombo International Air port.

The Sri Lanka government temporarily closed the Colombo International Air Port and switched off lights in the Colombo city Thursday night after suspicious unidentified aircraft were seen flying along the Western coast sources in Colombo said, few hours before the reported incident.

Sri Lanka took such precautions since light properler driven airplanes were involved in bombing sorties first in Katunayaka Sri Lanka Airforce base and allegedly in the Palali Air force base.
A military source was quoted having said, "Some civilians in Puttlam district had seen three aircraft flying from north to south hugging the sea. With suspicion, contingency plans have been activated because of the imminent risk of threat, closing off the entrance of the airport and switching power off."

On April 24 LTTE airplanes bombed military positions in the North killing or injuring six military personnel.

The first bombing by the airplanes took place less than a month ago at Katunayaka Sri Lanka Air Force base . The second one took place in the North.

The Indian military’s defence website reported the Jaffna incident as follows: “Liberation of Tamil Tigers Elam (LTTE) rebels launched a second air attack on a Sri Lankan military base in Jaffna Peninsula, in which at least six army personnel were injured.

“ The ground fire forced a plane to turnaway before it hit the intended target, said an army spokesperson. However, the rebel group claimed that the base was hit.

“ According to reports, the air raid was carried out at night. Earlier on March 26, the LTTE carried out a bombing sortie on the KatunayaKe Air base.

“ The target of the attack was suspected to be Fifth Jet Squadron and 10th Fighter Squadron hangars located in the airbase. No fighter aircraft were then damaged, but three air force personnel were killed and 17 were injured in that attack.

“ The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers, is a militant organization that has been waging a secessionist campaign against the Sri Lankan government since the 1970s in order to secure a separate state for the Tamil majority regions in the north and east of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon).

“The LTTE is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by 32 countries. The LTTE is headed by its founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran.”