Tamil Tigers launch first airstrike
Tamil rebels launched their first airstrike in the nearly quarter-decade conflict with Sri Lanka’s government, using at least one small plane to bomb an air base outside the capital today and killing three airmen, officials said.
Tamil Tiger rebels said the overnight raid, which also injured 16 personnel at the base about 20 miles northwest of Colombo, was aimed at halting what they called “indiscriminate” aerial bombing of Tamil areas and warned of more attacks.
The Tigers said two aircraft carried out the raid, though it was not immediately clear what kind of planes they used or where they obtained them. Air force spokesman Group Capt. Ajantha Silva said the attack involved a single light aircraft, and that it was the first airstrike by the Tigers.
The Tigers launched their fight in 1983 to create an independent homeland for the country’s 3.1 million minority Tamils after decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
KANAZAWA, Japan
Aftershocks hit rural coast
Aftershocks shook a rural area of coastal central Japan today, a day after a powerful earthquake killed at least one person and injured 193 others as it toppled buildings, triggered landslides and generated a small tsunami along the coast.
One of the aftershocks had a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 and struck at 7:19 a.m. today. Japan’s Meteorological Agency said there was no tsunami danger. The agency warned that strong aftershocks could continue for a week.
“A fairly big aftershock hit just minutes ago and I jumped out the door,” said Tomio Maeda, manager of a convenience store in Anamizu town. “It’s scary. I guess it’s not over yet.”
BOGOTA, Colombia
President denies claims against chief
President Alvaro Uribe on Sunday rejected allegations in a leaked CIA report that his army chief collaborated extensively with right-wing militias accused of some of the worst atrocities in Colombia’s long-running civil conflict.
The leaked CIA report was the basis for a Los Angeles Times article published Sunday that linked Gen. Mario Montoya, a close ally of the president, to a paramilitary group headed by one of the nation’s biggest drug traffickers, whose extradition has been requested by the U.S.
The CIA document, which according to the newspaper was based on intelligence gathered by an allied Western agency, said that as head of the army’s 4th brigade, Montoya worked with the militia to carry out a deadly raid in a poor neighborhood in the city of Medellin in 2002.
In a statement, Uribe said the “Colombian government rejects the accusations made by foreign intelligence agencies” against Montoya “through press leaks without any evidence having previously been presented to Colombia’s government or justice system.”
A spokesman for Montoya said the army chief would not comment on the article.