Two LTTE aircraft yesterday bombed the Mannar army camp and the Kelanitissa Power Station in Colombo. However, the damage was minimal, the military said.

No details were immediately available from Mannar but a senior defence official confirmed one soldier had been injured there and that bombing had damaged a cooling system connected to a gas turbine at Kelanitissa. The Fire Brigade had managed to bring the situation under control, he said.

There was a power cut in Colombo soon after the incident as a precautionary measure and the movement of traffic came to a halt for a few hours in some areas in the city due to the incident.

The lights at the Bandaranaike International Airport was also switched off as a precautionary measure but the airport authorities said that the situation is back to normal and the flights are operated on schedule.

Milityary Spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said the LTTE had missed both targets as the military had opened anti-aircraft fire in time. "The enemy had to drop the bombs in a hurry and flee," he said.

The air defence systems were activated in Colombo and lights switched off as a precautionary measure. Anti aircraft fire woke up the city and notwithstanding risks hundreds of people could be seen watching the tracer bullets crisscrossing the western skies.

Sources said the air defence systems had detected the LTTE aircraft in Colombo but failed to zero in on them. "There was some problem with ‘locking on", he said adding that the military was trying to figure out what went wrong. He said he suspected that the Tiger aircraft had been coated with some kind of paint to minimize heat emission. He said he was hopeful that the SLAF would be able to target the enemy craft when they landed. He said according to his information they were still airborne at the time he spoke to us.

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told The Island around 12. 15  a.m. today that the Air Force was still looking for the LTTE planes and according to information he had received by that time the damage that the Mannar camp and the Kelanitissa power station had suffered was minor. He said the SLAF craft were airborne looking for the fleeing Tiger planes.

Asked whether the LTTE aircraft would return for another attack Brigadier Nanayakkara answered in the negative.

The last time the LTTE aircraft reached Colombo was on 28 April in 2007 but were unable to cause any damages.

LTTE also made an abortive attempt to bomb the Katunayake Air Base on 25 April 2007.