Tigers shell SLAF base

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 1999, 10:21 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers fired long range mortar shells into the Sri Lanka Air Force in Batticaloa this afternoon around 3.40 p.m. Three shells fired by the Tigers from positions beyond the Batticaloa lagoon fell inside the camp and exploded.

Residents in the area said that there was smoke in some parts of the base. One of the shells fired by the Tigers from the Paduvaankarai region, west of the lagoon, fell by the boundary defences of the base they said.

The SLAF retaliated by firing more than 20 mortar shells in the direction of the LTTE controlled western hinterland. The shelling continues said the Tamilnet's Batticaloa correspondent. Casualties on the other side are not yet known he said.

The SLAF base located by the densely populated southwestern suburbs of Batticaloa town close to the lagoon.