New attacks were reported today in the north-east of Sri Lanka as Tamil Tiger rebels bombed several military targets.

Three bombs were launched on two military installations in the Welioya region but no soldiers were killed or seriously injured in the process.

"The damage caused is insignificant" and caused no deaths "but the attack is symbolic. It shows they have coordinates of military installations," explained a defense official as quoted by the Agence France-Presse.

According to BBC’s Roland Buerk, the Tigers formed their air strike force about a year ago using Czech-built, two-seater, propeller-driven aircrafts. They were smuggled into the country in pieces and modified to be used as bomb deployers.

The attack is their fifth air offensive in less than a year and the first since last October, when an air force base in Anuradhapura was attacked by a Tiger suicide squad. The government ended up losing eight planes in October’s strike.

Just yesterday, a violent clash between troops and insurgents was reported along the front line of Welioya. The incident ended with 22 insurgents and 7 soldiers killed, plus another soldier missing in action.

The conflict between the Sri Lanka's pro-government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group has started 24 years ago and over this period there were more than 70,000 people killed in the clashes. Two attempts of reaching peace were made, but after the last of them made during the peace-talks held in Geneva a year ago, the fighting has intensified.

The LTTE has an estimated 12,000-member land force and a 4,000-strong naval unit.