By Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO, April 27 (Reuters) - Tamil Tiger light aircraft bombed a Sri Lankan military position in the north of the island early on Sunday in the rebels' first air raid in nearly six months. The Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tigers are locked in a new chapter of a bloody civil war that has killed thousands in recent months. "At about 1:35 a.m. they came and dropped three bombs on the Welioya Forward Defence line. Nobody was hurt, and no damage to any property," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, referring to the rebel air raid on the northern district of Pollonnaruwa. The rebels conducted their last air strike in October 2007 on an air force base in Anuradhapura. Fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has intensified since the government formally pulled out of a 6-year-old ceasefire pact in January, though a renewed civil war has been in progress since 2006. The Tigers, fighting for an independent state in the north and east, were not immediately available for comment. Pro Tamil Tiger rebel web site www.tamilnet.com said heavy fighting erupted in the Welioya area, pitting the Tigers against a "large scale offensive" by the army. A suspected rebel bomb blast on a bus near the capital Colombo in the evening rush hour killed 26 people on Friday. Dozens of rebel fighters and government troops were killed this week in fighting on the Jaffna Peninsula in the far north. After driving the rebels from the east, the armed forces are focusing on Tiger-held areas in north, intensifying fighting in the war that has killed an estimated 70,000 people since 1983. While the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of the war, analysts see no clear final winner. (Editing by Giles Elgood)
A health worker collects poultry for culling at a farm in Barkathal village, about 60 km (37 miles) north of the northeastern Indian city of Agartala, April 26, 2008. Authorities battling ...
