SLAF steps up bombing in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2000, 10:50 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has stepped up bombing raids in the Vanni said sources in the northern border town Vavuniya. The said SLAF jets flew several sorties today towards the northern Vanni region they said.

SLAF sources said that the bombing is aimed at destroying identified positions of the Liberation Tigers such as fuel and ammunition dumps.

However, Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka said yesterday that his government will bomb to destroy (armed) Tamil youth.

Aid agencies in the Vanni charge that the SLAF more often than not takes on civilian targets.

The Prime Minister made the assertion while addressing a meeting after opening a Divisional Secretariat in Gampola, in the island's central province.