News

ABTA is advising holidaymakers heading for Sri Lanka to check with their tour operator before travelling following an attack on an airport by the Tamil Tigers.

A spokesman for the association said: “For the next few days we are advising people to check on the situation with their operators. One thing we would stress is that the Tamil Tigers do not have a history of targeting tourists.”

In the early hours of this morning the Tamil Tigers raided a military airport adjacent to the civilian Colombo airport. Around 14 people are reported to have died in the violence and a number of aircraft were destroyed.

The ABTA spokesman said 50 British tourists were caught up in the raid but none of them were hurt.

Colombo airport is now closed and flights have been diverted to either Dubai or the Indian city of Madras.