Colombo airport in night closure

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Officials at Sri Lanka's only international airport have ordered it to be closed at night time following a series of Tamil Tiger air strikes.

They say that closure will come into effect from next week.

The Bandaranaike International Airport, which shares a runway with an adjoining military base, will close between 2230 and 0430 from 10 May.

Meanwhile Britain has decided to withdraw some of its debt relief payments to Sri Lanka, officials say.

It had earlier agreed to give $5.9m to help the country pay debts to the World Bank, but has now suspended the programme after making only half the payments, a spokesman for the British High Commission in Colombo said on Thursday.

He said that the payments will resume only if a series of conditions are met, including no unjustified increases in military spending and no instigations of hostility by the government.

There was no immediate response from ministers to the news.

'Public inconvenience'

The airport closure follows an air raid on Sunday by the Tamil Tigers on oil facilities in Colombo. A fuel storage tank was destroyed and two buildings were damaged.

The Tigers carried out their first ever air raid in March. It targeted the military airport near Colombo. They have also carried out an air attack in the north of the island in which six soldiers died.

The rebels used 'home made' aircraft in the attacks

The acting Director General of Civil Aviation, Parakrama Dissanayake, told the AFP news agency that international airlines have a week to reschedule their flights to the island.

Officials say that the night time closure would be for three months initially, and any further extension would depend on the security situation.

"The decision was taken mainly to minimise public inconvenience which may take place due to disruption of flights. Passenger safety is paramount to us," Mr Dissanayake said.

The airport has been forced to close down three times in the past month, with many incoming flights diverted to southern India.

Shut down

On Wednesday Emirates said that it would resume day-time services after suspending them because of the Tamil Tiger attacks.

Cathay, Asia's third-largest carrier, has yet to resume operations while Singapore Airlines announced that it would only fly during the day to Colombo.

The Tiger rebels may have up to five planes, experts say

Correspondents say that Singapore, Cathay and Emirates account for about a quarter of Sri Lanka's air passenger traffic.

The airport handles about 70 flights a day, and correspondents say that the night-time shut down would affect 40% of them.

The rebels previously attacked the airport in July 2001, when they destroyed more than a dozen military aircraft and attacked six civilian passenger jets.

They are fighting for an independent state in the north and east.

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.