Three boats destroyed in navy, LTTE clash

Colombo, June 28 : At least two Sea Tiger boats and a navy water-jet were destroyed when the Sri Lankan navy, on routine patrol, was confronted with a flotilla of Sea Tiger boats in Kalpitiya lagoon off Mannar island this morning, navy sources here said.

''When the Naval vessels on routine patrol approached the flotilla of 20 Sea Tiger boats, they opened up fire resulting in the navy to retaliate. At least two Sea Tiger boats were destroyed during the fire fight that lasted over an hour,'' a navy spokesman said, adding that one In-shore patrol vessel of the navy was also damaged during the confrontation.

Claiming that three naval sailors were injured during the confrontation, the navy official said that the exact casualty figure of the Sea Tigers remain unknown.

''We, however, believe that at least six LTTE cadres could have been killed in the fire fight as each of the destroyed LTTE boats carried at least three cadres,'' he said, adding that the remaining Sea Tiger boats withdrew towards Kuthiraimalai ''as soon as they saw the presence of the Sri Lankan air force fighter jets.'' There was no official reaction from the LTTE so far in this regard.

The LTTE's fresh attack on the Navy has come at a time when the country's security has been beefed up ahead of the funeral of Sri Lanka's Army Deputy Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Parami Kulatunga, who was killed in a suspected LTTE suicide attack on the outskirts of Colombo on Monday.

The funeral of the late Army Deputy Chief of Staff will take place in Colombo tomorrow with full military honours.

Military spokesman, Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said that the government has reactivated six main key road-blocks to keep thorough checks on all vehicles coming into the South from the restive North-East as it was before the signing of the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement.

''These check points have been reactivated for 24-hours since yesterday and all vehicles leading in will come under thorough check,'' Brigadier Samarasinghe said, adding that the security arrangements in the country will be changed based on the tactics adopted by the LTTE.

Meanwhile, Police spokesman, SSP, Rienzie Perera appealed the general public to be ''vigilant and alert on the suspicious movements of unknown persons'' in their neighbourhood and to inform the emergency service of the police, if they find anything or anybody suspicious.

He equally urged the public ''to be aware of rumours of bomb scare''. Some leading schools were targeted in and out of Colombo, which he said had resulted in creating a panic wave among the students community as well as parents this morning resulting in closure of couple of schools in Colombo.

''These types of rumours are doing the round since the past two weeks. We earnestly request the public not to create a panic situation based on mere rumours. We are probing the elements behind this campaign,'' SSP Perera told reporters.

UNI