Sri Lankan Air Force bombs rebel leader's hideout

COLOMBO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan military said Wednesday its Air Force bombed a hideout of Tamil Tiger rebels' top leader Velupillai Prabakaran in the north on Wednesday morning and they believed Prabakaran was there when the bombing took place.

Officials from the Media Center for National Security said the bombing took place at around 11:15 a.m. local time (0545 GMT) in Iranamadu bordering the northern districts of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi.

Air Force Spokesman Andi Wijesoriya said the air sorties were carried out with pinpoint accuracy on information obtained through real-time air surveillance and ground reconnaissance.

Suppayya Paramu Tamilselvan, political head of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was killed in a similar pinpoint air strike on Nov. 2, 2007 in Kilinochchi.

The LTTE has been fighting since 1983 for an independent state for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority in the north and east claiming discrimination at the hands of Sinhalese-dominated governments.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in one of the world's longest running ethnic conflict.