March 27, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1428

COLOMBO, March 26: The Tamil Tiger rebels have admitted to bombing the highly-guarded Katunayake Air Force base adjacent to the Bandaranaike International Airport in a night-time mission on Monday, killing three air force personnel and injuring over seventeen.

In a statement on the pro-rebel Tamil website Tamil Net, the guerilla group said they were responsible for the bombing which was carried out using an airplane, the first time that the rebels used its much debated ‘air capability’.

Declaring that the Tigers have succeeded in using locally-made fixtures attached to the aircraft frame to allow automatic weapon discharge under pilot control, the Tamil Net website published photographs of the cadres involved in the bombing. The photographs included those taken with their illusive leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

Three bombs were dropped on Monday at 12:45 am using a light aircraft, a spokesman for the Government Media Centre for National Security told Dawn.

Military sources rejected rebel claims that two aircraft were used for the attack and confirmed that none of the fighter jets at the air force base was damaged.

"It is clear that the attack was launched with the objective of crippling the military air capability. However, none of the fighter jets, including the MIG aircraft and Kfir sustained any damage. The overall damage caused is not serious,” military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said.

Meanwhile, all international flights from the Bandaranaike airport which were cancelled in the early hours of Monday resumed with intensified security checks underway, Airport sources said.

AFP adds: The rebels said the military carried out retaliatory air strikes inside rebel-held territory on Monday afternoon, but the bombings by supersonic jets did not cause any casualties.

Government officials said President Mahinda Rajapakse went into an emergency meeting with political party leaders.