Colombo, July 1 (IANS) Sri Lanka’s defence ministry claimed Tuesday that eight supersonic fighter jets had carried out air raids on a suspected training base of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the northern Wanni region. The defence ministry statement said the target located at Ampakaman area, eight kilometres northeast of Mankulam junction in the Wanni region, “was a training base for the LTTE members of specialized bands such as ‘air tigers’ and others” and was bombed around 6.15 a.m. Tuesday.

“The target was engaged using eight fighter jets and the raid was successful,” the ministry statement said.

There was no immediate reaction from the rebels in this regard.

Commending the role played by the Sri Lankan Air Force, Sri Lanka’s Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told the members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association in Colombo Monday that nearly 1,000 LTTE cadres had been killed during the air raids since August 2006.

Claiming that a total of 9,000 LTTE cadres have been killed due to persistent military onslaughts since August 2006, the army chief said that it would take another one year or so for the army “to completely defeat the LTTE militarily”.