Sri Lanka

President calls on Tamil Tigers to surrender, blast hits airforce headquarters

Article published on the 2009-01-02 Latest update 2009-01-02 16:17 TU

A Sri Lankan army soldier in Paranthan, which was captured on 23 December
(Photo: Reuters)

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse has called on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to surrender, after the capture of the rebels' de facto capital, Kilinochchi, but a suicide-bomber hit the airforce headquarters in the capital, Colombo, claiming at least two lives.

"A bomber riding a motorcycle had tried to get into the premises but he was stopped by the sentries and that was the point at which the suicide-bomber detonated the explosives he was carrying," reports correspondent Amal Jayasinghe.

He says that the attack, which caused at lesat 30 more injuries, was almost certainly a reaction to the government's announcement that it had captured Kilinochchi.

"For the last time, I am telling the LTTE to lay down arms and surrender," Rajapakse said in a nationwide broadcast.

The LTTE has been fighting for a Tamil homeland for 25 years. The loss of Kilinochchi, wher they had set up courts, a police force and even a bank, is "a big blow", says Jayasinghe.

"This is an area where they had their main political basis," he told RFI. "In fact this is a showcase town where they received visiting dignitaries. People who were involved in the Sri Lankan peace process, the key foreign figures, some of them had, in fact stayed in Kilinocchi."