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| Sri Lanka's main airport attacked | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Reports from Sri Lanka say that the international airport in the capital Colombo has come under attack by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels. | Reports from Sri Lanka say that the international airport in the capital Colombo has come under attack by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels. |
| Witnesses have reported hearing the sound of explosions and gunfire. | |
| A spokesman for the Sri Lankan military told the Reuters news agency that fighting was continuing at the airport. | |
| The airport was attacked in July 2001 by Tamil Tiger rebels who killed 18 people and destroyed six civilian jets, and yet more military aircraft. | |
| The BBC's Roland Buerk in Colombo says that people living near the airport were woken at about 0045 (1915 GMT Sunday) by a series of loud explosions, followed by gunfire. | |
| Air assault claims | |
| There are reports that the assault may have involved an aerial attack by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels. | |
| There is no word yet on casualties at the facility which is 30km (20 miles) from Colombo. | |
| Colombo airport is the country's only international passenger airport and it adjoins a military base, which houses some of the aircraft used in recent air strikes against Tiger rebel bases in the north of the country. | |
| Sri Lanka has been sliding back into civil war for months, our correspondent says, and though a ceasefire does exist it is only on paper and both sides have been ignoring it for months. | |
| Our correspondent says that as the fighting in the north has worsened many people have been expecting the Tiger rebels to strike back in dramatic fashion in the south of the country, and it now appears that such an attack may be under way. | |
| The island is heavily reliant on the money which tourism brings in, so an assault on the airport could be very bad news for Sri Lanka's economy. | |
| In the 2001 attack on Colombo airport half of the country's national airline fleet was destroyed. |