Story Highlights• The oil targets supply fuel to the security forces, rebel spokesman says• Colombo went under a blackout for second time in week • Sri Lanka air force retaliated with attacks on rebel targets in north • Latest attack came days after deadly rebel attack on army engineers unit From Journalist Iqbal Atha Adjust font size:
    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- The Tamil Tiger rebel group has claimed responsibility for the Saturday bombing of two fuel installations that prompted heavy security, a two-hour blackout in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, and disrupted activity at its airport. "These oil installations at Muthurajawela and Kolonnawa are supplying fuel to the security forces, particularly the air force," spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan told CNN via satellite telephone from the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka. The two rebel aircraft that were involved in the attacks "successfully accomplished their mission," with two installations on fire, Ilanthiriyan said. At least five people, including three soldiers, were injured and hospitalized in the incident, and the Sri Lanka air force launched retaliatory strikes against rebel targets in the northern Wanni region. The attacks occurred as many people were awake, watching Sri Lanka's cricket team play Australia in the World Cup final on television, The Associated Press reported. Military officials confirmed the two targets. Officials said the bombing of a fuel storage complex in the northeast suburb of Muthurajawela breached a pipeline and triggered a fire that the fire brigade later extinguished. But no damage was caused by the bombing near an oil storage tank in the Colombo suburb of Kolonnawa, they said. The incoming rebel aircraft were first reported by a detachment at Palavi, about 110 kilometers (68 miles) north of the main air base at Katunayake, the air force said. The report prompted a total blackout in Colombo -- the second in a week. Anti-aircraft fire was directed at the sky in several places, including the southern town of Ratmalana, where a military air base is located, and at the Katunayakeanti air base, near the Colombo International Airport. The incident was the third in a week. Fears of an air attack triggered a blackout in Colombo on Thursday and forced its international airport to temporarily shut down. Government officials had said the Sri Lanka air force received reports of three unidentified aircraft, believed to belong to Tamil Tiger rebels, flying over the town of Puttalam. A day earlier, rebel aircraft bombed an army engineers unit at Myliddy, home to the main military headquarters in the northern Jaffna peninsula, killing six soldiers and wounding 13. The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in the north and east since 1983, citing decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. About 65,000 people died before a 2002 cease-fire, which has been frayed by fighting between the military and Tamil Tigers in recent months. The government has vowed to dislodge the rebels from their eastern stronghold. Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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