A military transport plane carrying 60 people was missing Wednesday, and government officials said they feared it had been shot down by Tamil Tiger rebels.

Military officials became alarmed when the AN-32 plane, which took off Wednesday evening from the capital, Colombo, did not land 70 minutes later at the Palali military base in the northern Jaffna Peninsula. They spoke on condition of anonymity.The aircraft disappeared from the radar screen when it was flying over the island of Karaitivu, 10 miles from Palali. The pilot asked the airport tower if the runway lights were on before losing contact, they said.

Last week, Tamil rebels aboard boats shot down a Y-8 military plane, killing five of the six-member crew.

Government forces, meanwhile, fought their way house by house through the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna on Wednesday and cut off the only route for guerrilla reinforcements to reach the city, the military said.

Jaffna, once a city of 120,000 people, has become nearly a ghost town over the past three weeks as residents fled the bloodiest offensive of the 12-year-old war with separatist Tamil guerrillas.

View Comments

The war has killed about 39,000 people.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.