Tigers shell Palaly

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2000, 13:04 GMT]
Artillery shells fired by the Liberation Tigers on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base at Palaly hit the main communications tower and the air strip of the northern military complex said the Thamileela Vaanoli, the commercial broadcast of the Voice of Tigers said in its 5 p.m. news broadcast Thursday. The radio said that two policemen who were on duty at the communications tower were killed in the shelling.

Several parts of the base were also hit by the shelling the radio said.

Meanwhile, SLA sources in Colombo said that about six shells had hit the high security zone of Palaly, but said flight schedules were not disrupted.

Palaly is the only airbase on the Jaffna peninsula where several thousand SLA troops are battling the Liberation Tigers of Operation Unceasing Waves 3. Any disruption in flights could severely strain the SLAís supply lines.