Sri Lankan Air Force fighter jets on Thursday pounded an LTTE training base inside a rebel-held territory as ground troops killed at least 33 Tamil Tigers in a series of clashes in the island’s embattled north, officials here said. The supersonic jets bombed the LTTE base located at Kokkuthuduwai in Mulaithiuvu on Thursday morning, the defence ministry said, adding pilots confirmed that the targeted position was severely damaged in the attack.
This was the second aerial raid by the Lankan Air Force during the last four days. Earlier on Monday, the Air Force had attacked a regular gathering place of LTTE’s intelligence wing leaders in Puthukuduiruppu in Mullaitivu.

The jets, which were flown from the Katunayake air base near Colombo, engaged the target which had been under air surveillance for a considerable time, the ministry said.

In another incident, troops resisting a rebel attack at Muhamalai in Jaffna invaded LTTE’s first line of defence on Thursday morning, defence sources said.

Driving back the guerrillas, the security forces overran LTTE’s first line of defence, they said.
Troops were able to occupy the LTTE defence line for about one hour after destroying four rebel bunkers, the ministry said, adding ground troops reported that eight Tamil Tigers were killed in this incident.