An airman who was critically injured in the rebel attack on Sri Lanka's northern Anuradhapura air base succumbed to his injuries Monday night, increasing the total death toll to 14, the military said Tuesday.
With the latest report of casualty figures, 13 Air Force personnel and one Army soldier were killed and 22 injured in the Tamil Tiger attack against the air base, some 200 km north of the capital Colombo.
The rebels had damaged at least four aircraft by official count but the figure may be higher than that, some analysts say.
Defense officials said some 20 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels had been killed by the troops following the surprise ground and air attack on the air base early Monday morning.
Local officials said Anuradhapura was returning to normalcy on Tuesday.
"We have noted a drop in school attendance of around 10-15 percent due to slowness in the public transport services to resume. But all state offices and businesses remain open," H. M. K. Herath, the chief government administrative officer in the district told reporters.
Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, said that bodies of the rebels killed in the attack would be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"There are still some unexploded ammunition among their bodies, " Nanayakkara said, adding that those have to be removed before sending them to the morgue.
The rebel cadres all believed to be from their elite Black Tigers were targeting the air force capability. The Black Tigers are special operatives of the LTTE that commit suicide if needed to reach their objectives.
The Air Force has appointed two separate probe teams to carry out investigations.
This was the second attack on Anuradhapura by the rebels in the history of the armed conflict.
In May 1985 they killed 146 civilians by opening up gun fire in the city along its busy bus stand and the site of a sacred Buddhist shrine.
Source: Xinhua
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