(NSI News Source Info) February 23, 2009: Tamil Tiger rebel planes bombed Sri Lanka's main tax office in the capital Colombo on Friday, killing at least two people and wounding 40 in another display of their ability to strike far from the northerly war zone. 
Zlin-143 light aircraft: Pictures released by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka indicate they operate Czech-built Zlin Z-143 single engine, four-seater light aircraft modified to carry four bombs mounted on the undercarriage. It is not clear whether the Tigers have extensively modified the aircraft, which military sources believe may have been bought from a source in South Africa and Czechoslovakia. The Tiger "Air Force" carried out a 9/11 style suicide attack on 20/02/2009 using two of these aircraft. Under heavy anti-aircraft gun fire one of these aircraft was crashed into a tall buiding in Colombo and the other shot down near an airbase.
The Z-143 has a maximum speed of 265 km/h (162 mph) and as such it makes it a relatively difficult target to detect and intercept by a force that lacks airborne early warning or an extensive defense radar network when the aircraft is flown at low level. However at around 4am on 9 September 2008, the Sri Lanka Air Force reportedly scored its first air to air kill by successfully intercepting and bringing down an Air Tigers Z-143 over Mullaittivu. The last two aircraft were shot down over the Colombo and Katunayake skies between 10PM to 11PM on 20 February 2009 by Sri Lanka Air Force.
The attack is the 10th carried out by the "Air Tigers" since they launched their first in March 2007. Here are some facts about them:
* Security experts say the ramshackle force of single-engine propeller planes flown by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) may be the only combat air fleet operated by an insurgent group or any group on U.S. and E.U. terrorism lists.
* In March 2007 a single aircraft dropped homemade bombs on a barracks in an air force base next to the international airport in Colombo, killing three airmen and wounding 16 in an attack that shocked the world.
* On Oct. 28, two planes carried out separate raids that struck a power station in Colombo and an army base 250 km (150 miles) north of the city, wounding one soldier.
* On Sept. 9, a rebel aircraft bombed a military base in Vavuniya, just south of the front lines, in conjunction with a ground attack by "Black Tiger" suicide fighters that killed at least 25.
* After that attack, the air force said it had shot the aircraft down, which the rebels denied. No evidence has been made public by either side. The previous inability of the air force to catch the small planes despite vastly superior air power had been a longstanding source of embarrassment and frustration.
* Five other attacks comprise: an April 2007 attack that inflicted minor damage on Colombo oil storage facilities; an attack the same month on an airbase in northern Jaffna that killed six soldiers in combination with artillery fire; an October 2007 attack on an airbase in Anuradhapura in north-central Sri Lanka that killed nine and wounded 20; an April 2008 run at a military forward operations base in Welioya that damaged nothing; and an Aug. 26 attack on the navy base at the eastern port of Trincomalee that wounded 10 sailors.
* Sri Lanka's military has said the Tigers are flying three single-engine Zlin-143 light aircraft, believed smuggled onto the island in pieces and reassembled. During the rapid military advance that has now hemmed the Tigers into 87 sq km (34 sq miles), troops found at least seven airstrips, but no planes.
* The Zlin-143 has a small profile that makes it easy to fly at a low level to avoid radar detection. Since the military has put up anti-aircraft radar and stepped up combat air patrols, the rebels have usually kept their flights short. That has enabled them to strike and then land in camouflaged jungle hideouts before air force jets can intercept them.
Zlin-143 light aircraft: Pictures released by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka indicate they operate Czech-built Zlin Z-143 single engine, four-seater light aircraft modified to carry four bombs mounted on the undercarriage. It is not clear whether the Tigers have extensively modified the aircraft, which military sources believe may have been bought from a source in South Africa and Czechoslovakia. The Tiger "Air Force" carried out a 9/11 style suicide attack on 20/02/2009 using two of these aircraft. Under heavy anti-aircraft gun fire one of these aircraft was crashed into a tall buiding in Colombo and the other shot down near an airbase.
The Z-143 has a maximum speed of 265 km/h (162 mph) and as such it makes it a relatively difficult target to detect and intercept by a force that lacks airborne early warning or an extensive defense radar network when the aircraft is flown at low level. However at around 4am on 9 September 2008, the Sri Lanka Air Force reportedly scored its first air to air kill by successfully intercepting and bringing down an Air Tigers Z-143 over Mullaittivu. The last two aircraft were shot down over the Colombo and Katunayake skies between 10PM to 11PM on 20 February 2009 by Sri Lanka Air Force.
The attack is the 10th carried out by the "Air Tigers" since they launched their first in March 2007. Here are some facts about them:
* Security experts say the ramshackle force of single-engine propeller planes flown by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) may be the only combat air fleet operated by an insurgent group or any group on U.S. and E.U. terrorism lists.
* In March 2007 a single aircraft dropped homemade bombs on a barracks in an air force base next to the international airport in Colombo, killing three airmen and wounding 16 in an attack that shocked the world.
* On Oct. 28, two planes carried out separate raids that struck a power station in Colombo and an army base 250 km (150 miles) north of the city, wounding one soldier.
* On Sept. 9, a rebel aircraft bombed a military base in Vavuniya, just south of the front lines, in conjunction with a ground attack by "Black Tiger" suicide fighters that killed at least 25.
* After that attack, the air force said it had shot the aircraft down, which the rebels denied. No evidence has been made public by either side. The previous inability of the air force to catch the small planes despite vastly superior air power had been a longstanding source of embarrassment and frustration.
* Five other attacks comprise: an April 2007 attack that inflicted minor damage on Colombo oil storage facilities; an attack the same month on an airbase in northern Jaffna that killed six soldiers in combination with artillery fire; an October 2007 attack on an airbase in Anuradhapura in north-central Sri Lanka that killed nine and wounded 20; an April 2008 run at a military forward operations base in Welioya that damaged nothing; and an Aug. 26 attack on the navy base at the eastern port of Trincomalee that wounded 10 sailors.
* Sri Lanka's military has said the Tigers are flying three single-engine Zlin-143 light aircraft, believed smuggled onto the island in pieces and reassembled. During the rapid military advance that has now hemmed the Tigers into 87 sq km (34 sq miles), troops found at least seven airstrips, but no planes.
* The Zlin-143 has a small profile that makes it easy to fly at a low level to avoid radar detection. Since the military has put up anti-aircraft radar and stepped up combat air patrols, the rebels have usually kept their flights short. That has enabled them to strike and then land in camouflaged jungle hideouts before air force jets can intercept them.
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