Sri Lanka Rebels Shell Key Base; Aid Group May Leave

Tamil rebels shelled the Sri Lankan military’s only airport in Jaffna on Wednesday, threatening the supply line for thousands of government troops.

The international relief organization Doctors Without Borders said it was planning to move its base out of Jaffna if large-scale fighting breaks out in the city of 500,000 people.

Meanwhile, authorities blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for a bombing Wednesday that killed 19 and wounded at least 40 in the town of Batticaloa, about 150 miles northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital.

The Tamil rebels, using artillery that can hit targets up to 10 miles away, hit Palali air base three times, military officials said by telephone.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

An estimated 40,000 government soldiers and support staff get most of their supplies through the airport, built when Britain ruled Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon.

On Tuesday, the insurgents resumed their assault on Jaffna, ending a three-day lull in fighting, one of the few pauses since the military’s April 21 loss of the main causeway linking the northern Jaffna peninsula to the mainland. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who are fighting for a homeland in the north and east for minority Tamils, consider Jaffna their cultural capital.

Gabriel Trujillo of the French unit of Doctors Without Borders said by telephone that the group was preparing to move about 60 civilians in Jaffna hospitals to safer areas.