Tamil Tigers in suicide air strike

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Tamil Tiger rebels Monday launched a pre-dawn land and air attack on a Sri Lankan Air Force base that killed 10 Sri Lankan forces and wiped out military hardware worth millions of dollars, military sources said.

The rebels, fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east, said the air strikes were carried out by of their 21 "Black Tiger" or suicide cadres.

The attack in Anuradhapura began at 3:10 a.m. local time with rebels infiltrating the base in the country's north central province.

Residents in the area, who spoke by telephone, said they heard loud explosions and heavy gunfire. Shortly after the ground attack began, a rebel aircraft bombed the base, the sources added.

At least 20 rebels and 10 Sri Lankan Air Force personnel were killed, including an officer and two airmen on the base, a military source told CNN.

Four crew members on a Sri Lanka Air Force Bell helicopter were killed when their aircraft crash landed in Mihintale, near Anuradhapura. The immediate cause of the crash was not known.

Police enforced an unofficial curfew as they carried out what military sources described as a "mopping up" operation in the historic city of Anuradhapura, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that houses the world's oldest Bo Tree, which is sacred to Buddhists.

There has been no official response to the incident so far. Defense Ministry sources admitted that an attack had taken place, but downplayed the incident saying a small group had staged an attack.

The Tamil Tigers, however, claimed to have inflicted severe damage to the air force base. In a statement released along with photos of their air force troops, the rebels said they had destroyed 8 planes and helicopters, including reconnaissance planes and training craft.

They released photos of smiling troops, some with their eyes blurred over, that they claimed were members of their air force wing posing alongside their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran after returning from Monday's attack.

Sri Lankan air force officials declined to comment although military sources admitted privately that the attack had caused millions of dollars worth of damage to military hardware. The sources said two Mi-24 helicopter gunships, a U.S.-built Beechcraft reconnaissance plane and a Chinese-built K-8 fighter jet were damaged.

Since the rebels demonstrated their air strike capability in March, this is the first major attack on a Sri Lankan air force base.

The move, analysts say, is a direct retaliation for the month-long raids on rebel positions by air force bombers. It was only a week ago the rebels attacked an army detachment in southern Sri Lanka killing six soldiers. E-mail to a friend

Journalist Iqbal Athas contributed to this report.

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