Tamil rebels today staged a suicide attack against Sri Lanka's tightly-guarded international airport and the adjoining air base, destroying 13 aircraft and leaving 20 people dead.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga summoned an emergency cabinet meeting and ordered an inquiry into lapses that allowed suicide bombers to wreak havoc in the only international airport and base for fighter jets.
"The president informed the cabinet of ministers that she had ordered a fullscale inquiry into the incident and the strongest action would be taken wherever it was considered necessary," a cabinet statement said.
An estimated 15 to 20 guerrillas of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) penetrated the air force base at Katunayake and went on to bomb aircraft at the Bandaranaike international airport.
The defence ministry said at least 13 rebels were killed while seven security personnel also died at the airport and the airbase.Another 12, including four civilians were wounded. No foreign tourists were hurt.
However, an estimated 4,000 tourists were stranded in Colombo with the closure of the airport which is due to reopen on Wednesday morning, officials announced.
The national carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines, said flights to London, Dubai, Rome, Zurich, Paris, Frankfurt, Male and Tokyo would resume tomorrow, but did not give the departure timings.
Both the airport and the airbase which share a common perimeter were closed after the attack as an inquiry was launched into how Tigers managed to breach two high-security zones that are among the most tightly guarded.
Defence ministry spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said Israeli-built Kfir jets and Ukrainian MiG-27 planes had been deployed to carry out retaliatory strikes against LTTE targets in the north.
There were no immediate details of the air strikes and no statement from the LTTE on the airport operation.
AFP