In recent months, Sri Lanka's 'undeclared' conflict has undergone a dimensional transformation, literally and metaphorically. Starting with the 25 March attack on the Katunayake Air Force base, in the next 35 days the LTTE deployed its fledgling air wing, the Tamil Eelam Air Force (TAF), on three 'successful' missions. Although the amount of damage inflicted by the TAF is debateable, the awesome shock of this turn of events has clearly rocked the island.
The first LTTE air attack was actually on 11 August 2006, when two planes dropped bombs over the Palaly air base in the Jaffna peninsula. That mission was considered a flop, however, as all of the bombs were off-target. The mission was part of an ambitious bid by the LTTE to simultaneously paralyse Trincomalee and invade the peninsula. As with the air attack, that plan backfired and was aborted.
The second air attack came on 25 March this year, when two planes flew over Katunayake, which also hosts Sri Lanka's only international airport. Three bombs were dropped on the base, specifically targeting the engineering and maintenance hangars. Five of these bombs exploded, killing three Air Force personnel and injuring 17 others.
On the evening of 24 April, the TAF again flew into action. This time, two planes headed north, dropping four bombs on Palaly, Vasavilan and Kadduvan, and two more on Myliddy. The LTTE later claimed that these planes had bombed ammunition dumps, fuel depots, food-storage complexes and aircraft-maintenance facilities. This was strongly denied by the Colombo government, which alleged that the rebel planes had fled when an air-defence system was activated. While the government admitted that six soldiers were killed and around 30 more injured in the attacks, officials claimed this was due to a fleeing plane dropping a bomb on a bunker.