Tamil Tiger planes struck fuel depots around Sri Lanka’s capital early today, briefly plunging Colombo into darkness as the country watched the cricket World Cup.

As explosions were heard and the night sky lit up with anti-aircraft fire, fans scrambled to leave parks and hotels where giant screens showing Sri Lanka playing Australia in the final in Barbados were switched off.

Flights at the island’s only international airport were disrupted as the air defence systems kicked in, officials said, adding that one Indian jet was turned back while several departing flights were delayed.

The Tigers said that they struck after Sri Lankan war planes hit the rebel-held region of Kilinochchi.

It was the third time the separatist rebels have used light aircraft to hit military targets. The Bandaranaike International Airport shares a runway with the adjoining military base where war planes are parked.

“It was total panic because we initially thought it was fireworks,” said Zaithoon Bin Ahamed who was partying with friends at a Colombo rugby club.

“Organisers were asking people to stay calm, but people were getting nervous over the constant sounds of gun fire. No one really knew what was going on,” said Kamini Edward, who was following the game, which Australia won, at a city hotel.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) planes targeted two petroleum storage depots at the Colombo suburb of Kolonnawa and Muthurajawela, on the way to the airport, rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan said. The aircraft then returned to their secret location inside rebel-held territory two hours later, he added.

“We sent two squadrons to target facilities that provide fuel to military aircraft after two Sri Lankan air force jets bombed a suburb of Kilinochchi.”

The defence ministry confirmed that the two facilities - one state-owned and the other run by the multi-national Shell - were hit by four Tiger bombs, but only two exploded at the Shell depot.

The ministry said the bombs damaged fire fighting equipment and the water supply system at the Shell facility, but the damage was “minor."

Doctors said nine people were wounded during the anti-aircraft fire. There were no reports of any other casualties.

There was a second burst of anti-aircraft fire some 75 minutes after the first barrage. Authorities said they suspected the rebel aircraft was still within the capital’s air space.

Sri Lanka deployed supersonic jets to hit back, air force spokesman Ajantha Silva said.“We have identified the locations where those (Tiger) aircraft landed and have bombed them successfully."

The Tigers carried out their first ever air strike last month and followed it with a second last week on the Palaly military complex in the north of the country. The guerrillas attacked the Kolonnawa oil facility with suicide bombers in October 1995.

Police and security forces sealed off Colombo on Saturday, searching every vehicle entering and leaving the city amid fears of a Tamil Tiger attack.

The separatists, who observed an unofficial truce when Sri Lanka played New Zealand in the semi-finals, had earlier refused to say if they would hold fire for the final too.

The Tigers are believed to be operating five Czech-built Zlin-143 aircraft smuggled onto the island in pieces and re-assembled.

Sri Lankan forces have been on high alert since the Tigers, whose drawn-out campaign for an independent state for the island’s ethnic Tamil minority has left more than 60,000 people dead, carried out their first aerial strike last month.

There has been a surge in fighting since December 2005 leaving more than 4,000 people killed despite a truce arranged by Norway.

Monitors say the ceasefire has disappeared in all but name.

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