An aircraft of the Tamileelam Air Force (TAF) of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) bombed a Sri Lankan military fuel storage tank at Kolonnawa near Colombo at 1-50 AM on April29, 2007. Another plane of the TAF bombed another military fuel storage tank at Muththuraajawala near Colombo 15 minutes later. The LTTE has projected the two attacks as carried out by two "squadrons" of the TAF, but independent reports say that only two planes were involved in the two bombings. The planes managed to carry out the bombings and return to base without being brought down by ground fire and without being intercepted in air.
The bombings show once again the skills acquired by the TAF pilots in night operations. According to a South-East Asia based strategic analyst, it would seem to have acquired the planes and the skills through a South African flying club. The detailed comments of the analyst on the operations of the TAF are availablehere.
The third successful air strike of the TAF since it went into action on March26, 2007, caused considerable panic and confusion in Colombo--with power being switched off for some time by the Sri Lankan authorities. Since the small planes being used by the TAF provide very limited radar signature, the radars presently available with the Sri Lankan authorities are apparently unable to detect in time the approach of theplanes--particularly when they fly very low.