SLAF says LTTE boats destroyed

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan airforce claimed today that its Kfir bombers had blown up five water jets belonging to the Liberation Tigers in the Mullaithivu lagoon around noon yesterday.

The Israeli built bombers had picked out their targets as they had precise information about the Sea Tiger vessels which had been gathered by the Unmanned Areial Vehicles (UAV) flying over the Mullaithivu region said an aiforce spokesman today.

Aerial photographs of the vessels burning in the lagoon following the bombing raid were shown to journalists today.

Sources in Vavuniya, however, said that the boats could have been some among the large number of wood and card board dummies made by the LTTE to fool the UAVs. This could not be confirmed as the press is not allowed into the Vanni for independent coverage of the war.