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Two more Sri Lankan Air Force personnel succumbed to injuries, taking the death toll in Tuesday's attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the Katunayake Air Base and international airport to 20.
Military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne said the toll among the security forces had gone up to seven - five Air Force men and two army soldiers.
Thirteen LTTE cadres were killed, most of them shot dead by security forces, after they had destroyed or damaged eight military and six civilian aircraft.
Sri Lankan Airlines, which is drawing up a fresh operational schedule after losing half its fleet strength, said in a statement that three of its Airbuses were completely destroyed, and three damaged.
Its remaining six aircraft were in overseas destinations, thus escaping the LTTE rampage.
The Sri Lankan police investigation has identified the vehicle in which the attackers came to the vicinity of the high security zone behind the military air base.
Residents of Kurana, a small locality behind the installation, had seen a group of men in camouflage in a private bus parked near a junction on Monday night. They had seen them having food and then unloading a few sacks from the air-conditioned bus. They had been seen walking along a railway track, but how they got into the air base remains a mystery.
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