Tackler's travel notes

[Ed Monton]

Attack at main Sri Lanka airport

A military base adjoining Sri Lanka's only international airport has come under attack from suspected Tamil Tiger rebels, government officials say.
Witnesses reported hearing a series of loud explosions followed by gunfire.

Passengers already on aircraft were disembarked and led to a shelter, while others trying to reach the airport were turned away and approach roads closed.

The airport was attacked in 2001 by Tiger rebels who killed 18 people and destroyed civilian and military jets.

The BBC's Roland Buerk in Colombo says that people living near the airport were woken at about 0045 on Monday (1915 GMT Sunday) by a series of loud explosions, followed by gunfire.

A police officer, speaking to the Reuters news agency, said that there had been a large explosion in a military area near the runway, where attack planes and helicopter gunships belonging to the air force were parked.

Air assault claims

There are reports that the assault may have involved an aerial attack by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels.

Neil Butler, a passenger at the airport, told the BBC News website that he was inside the passenger terminal building and could hear the sound of machine guns and mortars.


The 2001 attack resulted in the loss of half the civilian fleet
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 although 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, which involved suicide bombers, half of the country's national airline fleet was destroyed.