Air Assets

European truce monitors in Sri Lanka have warned that the "air assets" of separatist Tamil Tiger rebels could re-ignite war on the island and destabilise security in South Asia.



European truce monitors in Sri Lanka have warned that the "air assets" of separatist Tamil Tiger rebels could re-ignite war on the island and destabilise security in South Asia. The Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said Tiger guerrillas possess an airstrip in the island's north.

"We have seen the airstrip from the air while flying in a Sri Lankan military helicopter," Monitoring Mission chief Hagrup Haukland told the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka on Thursday night.

Haukland said any move by government forces to bomb the airstrip could lead to the resumption of war.

He said his mission, which monitors a truce that started on February 23, 2002, had been denied access by the rebels to verify government charges that they possess at least two light aircraft.

The allegations over the Tiger air capability had heightened tensions, with Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga complaining to other governments, including of India and Pakistan.

However, H