Two incoming Sri Lankan Airlines flights were re-directed to southern India on Thursday night as Colombo's Bandaranaike International airport was closed down due to a reported inbound LTTE air raid. Power was also cut to the capital and the city blackout was total. Anti-aircraft guns fired and passengers in the airport terminal were ordered to the ground floor after gun-fire and blasts were heard. However about an hour after the alarm was raised, the lights in Sri Lanka's capital city began to flicker back on - which was taken by the populace to mean that an "all-clear" was in effect. The civilian airport uses the same runway as the military air base (Katunayake) which is on the opposite side of the runway and adjacent to the terminal. The airbase was the target of the Tamil Tigers' first airborne bombing attack last month, in which three airmen were killed and 17 injured (link).  A second bombing, of a northern military complex on Tuesday of this week, killed six soldiers. It's believed the Tigers may have as many as five Zlin 143 aircraft converted into rudimentary bombers, after being smuggled into the country in pieces and reassembled in secret jungle bases. Details of what actually happened on Thursday night are still unavailable.
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