In the first attack on an aircraft since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, an Air Force helicopter, on its way to pick up Italian Deputy Foreign Minister and his officials from Arugam Bay came under small arms fire from suspected LTTE cadres yesterday evening, military sources said.
Military Spokesman Nalin Witharanage said there were no civilians on board when the MI-17 helicopter came under ten small arms attacks about 10 kilometres away from Arugam Bay. According to a statement by the Joint Operations Headquarters (JOH), STF ground troops stationed in the Ampara area had monitored an LTTE radio transmission in which the LTTE had queried as to why the helicopter was not shot down as planned. “The Russian built Helicopter managed to land safely at the Ampara Air Force Base and no one was injured, ”, the military spokesman said. He also said the same helicopter provided the transportation in the morning to the twenty-member delegation led by Deputy Italian Foreign Minister Ms. Margarita Bonvier and Italian Ambassador Pio Mariani to Arugam Bay, where the minister had promised 100 million Euros for the rehabilitation of tsunami victims. The Italian deputy minister told the gathering in Arugam Bay her country and Sri Lanka had close links now and was even prepared to host peace talks there.
Meanwhile, Air Force Spokesman Ajantha De Silva said the Air Force had launched a full probe on the incident. Group Captain Silva accused the LTTE of carrying out the attack. He also said the Italian delegation was brought to the Ampara airfield in the evening by road, and was airlifted to Colombo in a fixed-wing aircraft. The JOH said while the extent of damage caused to the helicopter had not been assessed yet, the air force would lodge a complaint with the SLMM regarding the incident.
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