In the Parliament Priminister said eight air crafts were lost

Anuradhapura district parliamentarian P. Harrison said “the government is moving towards a military rule by appointing an overall operations commander to oversee the security in Anuradhapura”.

Speaking to Sandeshaya senior politician said that instead of appointing military commanders to ensure security the government must think about a long term solutions to provide safety and security of the public through negotiations.

"If there are attacks on Kurunagala or Kandy, the government would appoint military commanders to them and in the end whole country will be under the military” he said.

The government should have a strategy to resolve this problem through negotiations, but we cannot see that UNP Parliamentarian P.Harrison

The veteran politician pointed out that this attack shows the failures of the government and said “despite fighting for more than twenty years we have not achieved any success.”

"The government should have a strategy to resolve this problem through negotiations, but we cannot see that” he added.

Sweeping powers to OOC

After the attack on Anuradhapura air base by the black tigers, president Rajapaksha appointed Major General Sanath Karunarathne as the overall operations commander (OOC) of Anuradhapura district.

According to the Sunday Times news paper, General Karunarathna has sweeping powers in all military and political activity in the Anuradhapura district.

He has given powers to command over Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Special Task Force and civil security department personnel tasked for operational duties in the district.