A second story I found
Did a foreigner man the LTTE aircraft?
Army repulses major Tiger attack on military complex
According to intercepted LTTE ground information, the two pilots of the LTTE air craft had continued to communicate with each other on their way back to Kilinochchi. But suddenly, one of the Tiger aircraft had lost contact with the other. Soon one of LTTE pilots had informed the LTTE in Kilinochchi, about losing communication with the other.
The night was darker and cooler than it was the previous days, and the Sri Lankan Army’s elite force -- the Special Forces-- members were on duty at the Security Forces Headquarters Vavuniya and the adjoining Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) base which was equipped with the Indian made radar system named Indra-2 .
The SLAF base and the Vavuniya SF Headquarters are situated side by side and are divided by only a fence and a road that is not opened to the public. Bordering the south of the two bases is the jungle that leads to the Irattaperiyakulam area.
The SF personnel suddenly detected a movement at the outer fence from the Irattaperiyakulam jungle. It was around 3 am in the morning on Tuesday. After monitoring the movement the SF identified it was a group of Black Tigers of the Liberation Tigers Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Although the SF personnel detected the LTTE intrusion they did not retaliate, but waited patiently observing their movements. The Special Forces allowed the Tigers to get through to the Army fence-line and without their knowledge stealthily encircled the rebels. This took several minutes. After the eleven-member Tiger squad had entered the premises the cadres had sent several messages to the LTTE Headquarters. Later it was found that these messages had been sent to commence the operation to attack the military base.
Meanwhile the Black Tiger squad had been unaware that they had been encircled by the SF. Once the order was given, the Special Forces swung into action at the most opportune time. Just as the SF personnel began firing at the Tiger cadres, a barrage of 130mm Artillery shells fell on the Army base as well as on the air force base, creating consternation among the high ranking officials at the base.
The Tigers continued to fire heavy artillery shells in at least three directions from the Omanthai area. Later it was revealed that one location where the Tigers fired artillery was Semamadu area along the Old Kandy road in Omanthai.
Subsequent to the commencement of the ground attack from the south of the Air Base, an unidentified object appeared on the screen of the Indra 2 Radar monitor of the Vavuniya air force base at around 3.26 am and the object continued to move from Mullaitivu in the southern direction. Immediately, a message was sent to the Air Force Headquarters in Colombo, which in turn ordered that the air defence system in Vavuniya and its suburban areas be activated. It was by then clear that the object on the screen of the Indra 2 radar was the LTTE’s Zlin 143 aircraft, which was heading to attack the Vavuniya base in support of the Black Tiger squad on the ground. A second LTTE Aircraft was also spotted five minutes later. Anticipating that the LTTE’s intention was to launch an air attack on the base, orders were given for several Chinese built F-7 interceptors to be airborne to intercept and shoot down the aircraft.
F-7 supersonic jets Vs Zlin 143
Eight minutes after the detection of the first Tiger aircraft, a fleet of super sonic F-7 interceptor jets took off from Sri Lanka Air Force Base Katunayake to engage the enemy aircraft.
Meanwhile, as the two enemy aircraft approached the skies of the Vavuniya base, their aim appeared to be to bomb and destroy the Indra-2 radar system. But the heavy ground fire made it difficult for the two aircraft to target the radar system. Instead th two Tiger aircraft appeared to give up the plan and return. But four bombs weighting some 25 kilos had been dropped from the two light aircraft onto the army complex premises.
Source + map
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=26093
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