Planes Bomb Tamil Sites, Killing 80 : Sri Lanka to Continue Raids Until Rebels Agree to Peace Talks

Air force planes and helicopter gunships bombed Tamil separatist guerrilla strongholds today, killing 80 rebels in retaliation for Tuesday evening’s rush-hour blast in Colombo that killed more than 100 people, the government said.

The Ministry of Defense said the bombings of Tamil training camps and ammunition depots will continue until Tamil separatists end attacks on civilians and agree to peace talks.

Suspected Tamil rebels have killed 142 civilians in the northeastern district of Trincomalee since Friday and are believed to be behind Tuesday’s bus terminal bombing that killed 106 people and wounded at least 288 as thousands of workers began heading home.

Murder ‘Without Any Cause’

“It is now obvious that these terrorists do not want a peaceful solution and (that) they continue to murder innocent unarmed men, women and children in the most brutal manner and without any cause whatsoever,” a Cabinet statement said.

A Ministry of Defense spokesman said at least 80 Tamil separatists were killed and 80 wounded in the raids around Jaffna, the island nation’s northernmost town and stronghold of the Tamil separatist movement.

Government spokesman Tilak Rainakana said the bombing sites were pinpointed months ago and leaflets had been dropped to warn civilians to stay away from the areas.

“We did not strike the areas then because it could have triggered violence and destroyed peace talks,” he said.

Negotiations Condemned

The brunt of the air attacks was felt by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the oldest and most hard-line of the six separatist groups. It has condemned negotiations between the government and moderate Tamils and vowed that the violence will continue until a Tamil state is created in the north of the nation off India and once known as Ceylon.

Another group, the Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Sri Lanka, has been blamed for Tuesday’s blast. A senior official of the group in exile in Madras, India, where several Tamil groups are based, strongly denied involvement.

In Colombo, authorities imposed a 9 a.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew that paralyzed the nation’s capital. Only police and a handful of civilians with special passes roamed the deserted streets.

The curfew, imposed to prevent any backlash by the majority ethnic Sinhalese over the bus terminal bombing, could be extended Thursday.