BRITISH holidaymakers told last night of the nightmare of being caught up in a ferocious airport battle.

Dozens of terrified tourists - including some from the North-East - were pinned down by mortars and gunfire during the attack on Sir Lanka's main airport by Tamil Tiger rebels.

The terrifying 12-hour ordeal saw horrified holidaymakers forced to scramble for cover in a ditch as the separatists launched a pre-dawn assault on the airport near the capital Colombo.

Louise King, from Hartlepool, and Sarah Liddell, from Newcastle, were among the 47 Britons caught up in the chaos.

Ms Liddell said: "We heard some gunshots and explosions and when we looked out of the window we saw a fire just past the runway.

"A few moments later we were told to evacuate the airport and we were taken outside and just left there.

"We had to knock down a fence to get out and then we waited behind a building for about half-an-hour.

"You could hear gun shots and big blasts overhead."

Two honeymooning British couples were among those caught up in the attack.

Jimmy Bellieni, 36, married 36-year-old fiancee Candace on the trip. His brother, Steven, 34, wed girlfriend Martina, 28, during the family holiday.

Cafe manager Martina Bellieni, from Balham, south London, described how the airport descended into chaos when the attack began, with people running around screaming.

She said airport staff failed to evacuate the building and terrified tourists were forced by the military into the line of fire.

"We knew we needed to get out," she said. "But then the military started shouting 'Run, run, go for cover'. They sent us in the direction the bullets were coming from.

"People were diving on the floor. There was no cover apart from an old cafe bar."

The group was forced to flee the cafe after the rebels began firing at it and they dived into a ditch for cover.

The newlyweds, who had travelled to the country with about 15 friends and relatives, finally managed to escape during a lull in the gunfire.

Carpenter Jimmy Bellieni, told how he saw aircraft on fire and how the ordeal was "like something out of Sarajevo".

He said of crouching in the ditch: "At one point I poked my head up to see if I could get out and there was just silhouettes, flash fire, and a burning airport in the background."

The attack came on the anniversary of riots in 1983 in which mobs of Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority killed up to 3,000 Tamils.

After six hours of explosions and gunfire, police said all nine guerrillas were dead, three of whom had blown themselves up. Five military personnel also died in the battle.

It is understood that the rebels' primary target was an adjacent military air base.

Sri Lankan officials said rebels damaged eight military and five passenger aircraft.

Last night, the Foreign Office advised those travelling to the country to consider postponing visits.

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Colombo, said it had been in touch with about 80 Britons who were now waiting to fly home.