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Colombo: The Tamil Tigers' air wing set a power station on fire in the Sri Lankan capital and hit an army base on Tuesday in separate air raids, the military said.
The bombing runs were the eighth and ninth raids by the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) dilapidated air force of single-engine propeller-driven planes, which have bedevilled the Sri Lankan military since first striking in March 2007.
Tuesday's first attack hit Thalladi military camp about 250 north of Colombo in Mannar district, causing minor damage and injuring one soldier, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
Soon after, radar picked up an unidentified aircraft heading south over the Indian Ocean towards Colombo. The city was plunged into darkness after power was switched off as a precaution, jets were scrambled and air defences activated.
The rebels are locked in heavy fighting with the military in northern Sri Lanka, where the government is confident it will defeat a foe its has battled since 1983 in one of Asia'a longest-running insurgencies.
The military has stepped up its offensive in the last three months and says it is within striking distance of the rebel capital Kilinochchi. It says it has steadily seized one LTTE stronghold after another as it marches north.
Since journalists are barred from the war zone, it is nearly impossible to get an independent account of where the fighting is occurring and of casualties.
The military says the Tigers' air wing, which debuted in March 2007 with a bombing run on the military air base inside Colombo's international airport, used to consist of three Czech-made Zlin-143 aircraft.
Its last raid came in September, when the military said it shot down one of the planes after it attacked a military base in Vavuniya, near the front lines. The Tigers denied that, and no evidence has ever been made public.
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