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Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels acquire surface-to-air missiles |
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August 12, 2000
COLOMBO (AP) - The surface-to-air missiles fired by Tamil Tiger rebels on the air force MiG-27 fighter aircraft earlier this week could have been acquired from the Taliban in Afghanistan, military officers said Friday. Links between the guerrillas and the Taliban were first reported earlier this year. The Divania newspaper quoted intelligence sources as saying that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had paid dlrs 20 million to the Taliban for buying military hardware. The military officials, who cannot be named under briefing regulations, say a deal had taken place between the two sides, but it is not known how much money changed hands. The LTTE buys arms and ammunition from various sources and ships them in vessels owned by its front organizations or smuggles the consignments in fast moving boats from ships on the high seas. The missiles pose a threat to the air force's MiG-27 aircraft, which are being used for the first time for attacking the rebel positions in northern Sri Lanka. "We are trying to find out what type of surface-to-air missiles they have acquired, but surely we are more cautious now after knowing that they have some," military spokesman Brig. Sanath Karunaratne said Friday. The government's top spokesman Ariya Rubasinghe, however, said the missiles in the rebel hands are not going to deter the air force from carrying out bombing missions. "We are going against the terrorists in a big way and this is not going to stop," Rubasinghe said. On Wednesday, Sri Lanka's Parliament approved an additional 28 billion rupees (dlrs 358 million) in defense spending this year to buy more aircraft and new weaponry. The government spend a total of 82 billion rupees (dlrs 1.2 billion) on defense during the current financial year (January-December). The rebels had fired the surface-to-air missiles when the air force jets attacked their hide-out in Mullaitivu area, 280 kilometers (175 miles) northeast of Colombo. None of the aircraft was hit, but the rebels used the missiles after a gap of nearly 18 months, Brig. Karunaratne said. The air force bought an unspecified numbers of MiG-27 aircraft after the guerrillas launched a big offensive in May to recapture its former capital, Jaffna. The rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland for the minority Tamils since 1983. More than 62,000 people have been killed in the fighting. The Tamils accuse the majority Sinhalese of widespread discrimination in education and jobs. The Tamils comprise 14 million of the island nation's 18.6 million people. |