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'Suicide attack' on S Lanka army | 'Suicide attack' on S Lanka army |
(about 6 hours later) | |
A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber has killed himself and at least seven others in an attack an army camp in eastern Sri Lanka, the military said. | |
The bomber drove a tractor loaded with explosives to the camp in Batticaloa district and detonated it at the gate. | |
Three soldiers, four civilians and the bomber were killed and at least 10 others injured, officials said. | |
The bombing came a day after the Tamil Tigers carried out their first ever aerial attack, on a military base. | The bombing came a day after the Tamil Tigers carried out their first ever aerial attack, on a military base. |
Rebels said the Sri Lankan government carried out four air raids in the north of the island after the airport attack. | Rebels said the Sri Lankan government carried out four air raids in the north of the island after the airport attack. |
Troops praised | |
Tuesday's bombing at the Chenkalady camp in Batticaloa district came early in the morning. | |
Our alert soldiers... asked the driver to stop. When he ignored, they opened fire Brig Prasad Samarasinghe, Military spokesman Tamil Tigers' new tactic | |
The military said troops shot the attacker as he tried to enter the base. The tractor and its explosives subsequently exploded. | |
Three of the civilians belonged to a pro-government Tamil party, the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), which has its office next to the camp, officials said. A 12-year-old boy was also killed. | |
Sri Lanka's military spokesman, Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, said it was only the alertness of the sentries on duty that prevented the bomber getting into the base and causing more casualties. | |
"You can't find even a piece of the trailer. If it had come into the camp, it would have been a major disaster," he told Reuters news agency. | |
Brig Samarasinghe blamed the Tigers. | |
The rebels, who have fought for decades for a separate state for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority in the north and east, have not commented on the incident. | |
There has been heavy fighting in eastern Sri Lanka for months. | |
The BBC's Roland Buerk in Colombo says government forces are trying to drive the rebels from pockets of territory they still hold. | |
Air raid | |
Meanwhile, investigations are getting under way into how the rebels managed to carry out the air raid on the fighter jet base on Monday. | |
The Tigers released photos of the pilots they said took part | |
At least one light aircraft flew undetected to the Katunayake base, which is next to the international airport and shares the same runway, dropped several bombs and returned home. | |
The rebels say two planes were involved. It was the first time they have attacked from the air. | |
Three air force personnel died and 16 people were hurt in the raid 30km (20 miles) north of Colombo, the air force said. | |
The international airport - which was not damaged - was closed briefly. The Sri Lanka air force said none of its jets were damaged. | |
Despite a ceasefire still being in place on paper, Sri Lanka has been sliding back towards civil war, with more than 4,000 people killed in the past 15 months, our correspondent says. | Despite a ceasefire still being in place on paper, Sri Lanka has been sliding back towards civil war, with more than 4,000 people killed in the past 15 months, our correspondent says. |
About 65,000 people have been killed and one million displaced by the fighting over the past 20 years. | |