VVIP helicopter of Rajapaksa's fleet comes under attack in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2008, 10:11 GMT]
A VVIP helicopter of the fleet of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa came under fire, presumably a rocket attack, in the airspace over Ullai in Ampaa'rai district around 2:00 p.m. Tuesday. The helicopter had an emergency landing. Nobody was hurt, but the chopper was damaged, according to available information.

The helicopter was part of Rajapaksa's fleet during his visit to A'rukam Kudaa (Arugambay) earlier in the day, where he ceremoniously opened the bridge connecting Poththuvil, A'rukam Kudaa and Paa'nama in the Eastern province.

Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) sources in Colombo only confirmed that there was a technical failure in one of the SLAF helicopters which was returning after refilling to the ceremonial site of A'rukam Kudaa.

The bridge was constructed with U.S. aid donation of USD 10 million.