Air force jets destroyed a Tamil Tiger rebel base Wednesday where a top guerrilla leader was believed to be hiding, the military said, as a group of government and opposition politicians submitted a power-sharing proposal to the president in an attempt to solve Sri Lanka's civil war.
The proposal looks at ways to implement power-sharing provisions already contained in the constitution, said Tissa Witharana, a Cabinet minister and chairman of the group, the All Party Representative Committee.
The Tamil Tiger base in Iranaimadu, close to rebel headquarters in Kilinochchi, was bombed by fighter jets, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.
He said a top rebel leader was believed to be hiding there, but did not provide further details.
The air raid was part of the government's campaign to kill top rebel leaders and crush their decades-old separatist campaign.
In November, the rebels' political wing chief, S.P. Tamilselvan _ believed by many to be their No. 2 leader _ was killed in an airstrike.
A month later, the military claimed the group's reclusive leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was wounded in a similar raid. However, the rebels denied he was injured.
Witharana said his committee also plans to draft constitutional changes allowing substantial devolution of power to Tamil-majority regions.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the committee after receiving the proposal he will continue to fight the rebels while working on a political compromise.
The current constitution allows the operation of provincial councils created under Indian intervention in 1987.
However, the rebels, who have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east, rejected the councils as inadequate.
Since then, two more efforts at peace negotiations and power-sharing have failed, with majority Sinhalese nationalists saying they gave away too much to the Tamils and the rebels saying they were inadequate.
The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people.
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