India beefs up southern air cover after LTTE’s Colombo attack

The Indian Air Force was placed on alert along the southern coast of the country on Saturday following a deadly Tamil Tiger air raid on the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, a report said.

“We are already in a state of very high alert due to the ongoing Dakshin Prahar (military exercise) and no additional measures are required in the wake of the air raid on Colombo,” a military source said. “There is also no requirement to move up our fighters as the aircraft the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) use can easily be sorted out with air defence guns and surface-to-air missiles,” the source added.

The PTI quoted air force sources as saying coastal radar and air defence units were keeping a “round-the-clock vigil” for aerial threats, given the area’s proximity to Sri Lanka. Mobile radars were already in place to protect sensitive infrastructure from possible Tamil Tiger attacks, the report said. An air force spokesman contacted by AFP declined to comment on the report.

A narrow strip of water separates Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, and India has said that any air or sea capability of the Tigers would be a threat to its national security.

The Kamikaze-style suicide attack targeting air force facilities late on Friday night killed two people and injured over 50 after one of two rebel aircraft bombed a tax office in Colombo.