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Lankan forces tarnish

rebels' plan to

launch air wing

COLOMBO: Plans by Tamil Tiger rebels to launch the world's only guerrilla air arm suffered a setback this week when Sri Lankan air force planes bombed an airstrip they had built in the island's north, defence officials said on Saturday.

"The Tigers had built two airstrips," a senior military officer said. "They were very prominent in the aerial photos. We saw signs they were becoming active so we decided to do something about it."

A kilometre-long gravel runway in the jungle of Kilinochchi, just south of the rebels' Jaffna Peninsula stronghold in the north, was destroyed by airstrikes on Tuesday, military spokesman Brigadier Sarath Munasinghe told reporters on Thursday.

"It will take them some time to rebuild it," he said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels, fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east of the country, built the airstrip to launch microlight aircraft acquired for their fledgling air arm, dubbed the "Air Tigers."

The rebels have a naval arm called the "Sea Tigers" that has sunk several navy patrol boats.

The air force also bombed a rebel naval facility at Verugal in eastern Batticaloa, Munasinghe said.

The Tigers are suspected of having trained pilots in Western countries, he said.

The microlights were stolen in France where the Tigers have their propaganda office and an extensive network to raise funds and lobby for their struggle, military sources said.

The air force bombed a factory believed to have been assembling microlights near Kilinochchi in August, 1993.

Newspapers have quoted intelligence sources as saying the airstrip had been under construction since May and was fortified with nine bunkers on either side of the runway and a network of tunnels serving as emergency exits.

The runway was built by rebels engineers, they said.

The Tiger air threat has been taken so seriously the military has installed anti-aircraft weapons and radar to protect the residence of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

India cracked down on the rebels after accusing a Tiger suicide bomber of assassinating former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu in 1991. The Tigers denied any involvement.

But the Tigers still maintain a network and are known to have support among extremist Tamils in India.-Reuter