LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                07. March 1997


PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM

CHINA BAY AIRBASE DEMOLISHED
	LTTE forces have largely destroyed Sri Lanka's most heavily
	fortified airbase located in the island's eastern district of
	Trincomallee. The attack launched on Wednesday night also
	effectively destroyed a Y-12 aircraft and two anti-aircraft guns.
	A unit of Black Tigers penetrated the maximum-security China Bay
	base at around midnight killing several airforce personnel and
	blasting away a major portion of the compound. The base - located
	at the nerve-centre of Sri Lanka's military operations - remains
	out of action for the moment. Three LTTE soldiers died in the
	operation: Major Sittampalam, Captain Nivethan and Captain
	Vijayaruban.
	
	Further details of this attack and one on a Batticaloa military
	base are imminent.

TAMIL VILLAGES UNDER FIRE - THE GENOCIDE CONTINUES
	Manal-Aru in Mullaitivu district is under attack from Kfir jets.
	The war planes violated Mullaitivu airspace at 6.30 am yesterday
	dropping three bombs which destroyed trees and killed cattle, as
	people bolted to safety. Manal-Aru had been under fire from
	Puccara fighter planes all last week. Sri Lanka routinely targets
	the Tamil population of Mullaitivu, which remains free from
	Sinhala military occupation. The killing of livestock and
	destruction of trees is part of a co-ordinated strategy of
	crippling the Tamil region by doing violence to its economy and
	ecology.
	
	In all areas of military operations, this tactic is being
	repeated. Tamils are being forcibly displaced and compelled to
	live in ill-supplied refugee camps where they are vulnerable to
	fatal diseases. Their homes are being demolished, their medical
	supply lines cut, their food rations withheld and their crops
	burnt. It must be clear to any intelligent observer that this is
	a war against Tamils.
	
	The government's 'devolution package' - like its ban on reporting
	from the northeast - is a screen to keep the international
	community at bay while the genocide of the Tamil nation is
	enacted. The pretence of an 'imminent' political solution will be
	exploited to the last minute. Yet, Sri Lanka's momentum towards
	the extermination of large sections of the Tamil population will
	persist for as long as its conduct is not publicly challenged by
	the international community and its so-called humanitarian
	agencies.

GRIEVING RELATIVES TURNED AWAY
	The relatives of 27 Tamil youths who 'disappeared' after being
	arrested by Sri Lankan soldiers last July have been turned away
	by military authorities at every camp in occupied-Jaffna. The
	standard response is that no such persons were arrested, although
	many witnesses insist otherwise. The young men were taken away
	from Thatchanthoppu and Navatkuli during a massive cordon and
	search operation last year and have not been seen since. In the
	light of many similar disappearances since the military
	occupation of Jaffna, there is a high likelihood that these
	people have been tortured and killed.


Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road, London E6 1BU,
United Kingdom. Tel:0181- 503 4294 / Fax: 0181-470 8593)