TAF bombing update

It is now confirmed that two low flying Zlin 143 light aircrafts that bombed Thaladi camp last night had been proceeding towards the President's House at Fort when they were diverted by heavy Anti-Aircraft gunfire.

The two planes, one of which had emptied its cargo in Mannar, had flown closer to the Colombo harbour and attempted to enter the air space directly above Pettah. Their direction, informed sources claimed, was towards the President's House.

This area is highly fortified with AA batteries placed on all high rise buildings, including the Hilton Hotel, World Trade Center Towers and the Bank of Ceylon building. Heavy concentrated AA gunfire directed towards the noise of the oncoming planes may have effectively averted an attempted LTTE 'decapitation strike' on the President.

We have also obtained information that indicates that the Sri Lanka Air Force had made no response whatsoever to pursue the aircraft sighting bad weather conditions. In fact, most F7 Pilots return home after 5pm. Bad weather was also cited for discontinuing jet bomber attacks on Tiger positions in the north.

It had taken the two planes 20 minutes to reach Colombo from Mannar. Throughout this 20 minute flight, the two planes had been popping up and down on the radar screen. This is ample time for the SLAF to have readied an appropriate response.