JAFFNA, Aug 11: Friday night saw the worst-ever fighting in recent times to hit Sri Lanka as intense clashes took place in northern Jaffna between the Tamil Tigers and the army.
The LTTE flew an aircraft over the fortified Jaffna military base at Palaly, firing a volley of rockets.
Curfew was clamped on Jaffna after the LTTE threatened to launch a bigger offensive to defeat the military.
The Tigers said the military had attacked northern areas in the Jaffna district as the scene of raging battle in the east extended to the north and the country slid into what many fear will be an all-out war.
Shelling and artillery fire were also directed at adjacent Muhamalai, the northern border that separates territories controlled by the government and the guerillas in the north. “Tiger fighters rushed to the Muhamalai area in defence,” a spokesman for the separatists said.
