COLOMBO: After uncovering attempts of Tamil Tigers to build crude submarines, Sri Lankan forces today said they had unearthed a possible rebel aircraft research wing that apparently studied ways to either repair planes or construct new ones.
Sri Lankan security forces engaged in search operations in Waddaikachchi area of Mullaittivu, found several parts of an LTTE aircraft left burnt by the rebels while fleeing from the area yesterday, the Defence Ministry said.
According to military sources, the skeletal parts and several partly burnt pieces of a fuselage and a rotor blade of an aircraft were found in a ramshackled centre in the region.
"LTTE activists have been experimenting clandestinely", the ministry quoted military sources as saying, adding that aircraft manuals, engineering sketches and brochures of model light aircraft were among the items found.
"Lathe machines, aluminum sheets, motor engine parts, nuts and bolts and a stock of other similar tools and accessories were also uncovered by the troops", military sources said.
On November 6 last year, the Sri Lankan Air Force and the army went on an alert following reports of an LTTE aircraft hovering around northern Vavuniya, even as the fears proved unfounded.