Airstrike damaged Palaly communications

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 18:34 GMT]
Communication facilities at the Sri Lankan military base complex at Palaly were damaged when an unidentified aircraft fired rockets at the airbase Friday night, a military source said Monday. LTTE artillery fire has separately damaged the runway at the sprawling base complex and as such "no planes have taken off or landed since Friday," the source added.

Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopters are however operating out of the airbase, the source said.

Describing Friday's air attack, the military source said lights at the Palaly base had left on and had illuminated communication equipment that had then been targeted by the aircraft that fired several rockets Friday night.

Officially, Sri Lanka's military has denied the reports of airstrike against Palaly, with some media quoting one official as insisting "we didn't even see an LTTE kite!"