S Lankan navy battles rebels at sea, troops ambushed

COLOMBO, Nov 18 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's navy clashed with Tamil Tiger rebels at sea today and police said a rebel ambush on land had left five soldiers and four civilians dead.

The navy said it sank three Tiger boats off the northwestern Mannar peninsula, while the rebels said they sank two navy boats and killed 10 sailors in the incident. Each side denied it had lost vessels or men.

Witnesses said hundreds of Tamil refugees in a camp in the eastern district of Batticaloa had ransacked a convoy of food aid trucks heading for rebel territory.

Violence has been rekindled in the island's civil war, which has killed 67,000 since 1983 -- more than 3,000 this year alone.

Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said small navy patrol craft engaged the Tiger vessels off the Mannar peninsula and helicopter gunships were called in to help.

''Three LTTE (Tamil Tiger) boats were sunk, and four navy sailors have gunshot injuries, but their craft are intact,'' Samarasinghe said.'' Police said five soldiers were killed in a separate incident when suspected Tigers ambushed an army truck in the northern district of Vavuniya, and four civilians were killed and 10 others wounded in a gunbattle that followed.

''Four civilians died of gunshot injuries. There were two parties firing. Some of the injured said the army opened fire,'' said Rohan Siriwardene, deputy inspector general of police in Vavuniya district.

He said it was not clear whether the civilians were killed by army or rebel fire.

The Tigers denied mounting the ambush, and said their ships had been attacked by the navy as they conducted exercises.

''We sank two of their inshore patrol craft,'' Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan told Reuters by telephone from the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.

''Our boats are very small, so any attempt by the air force to sink them will not be fruitful,'' he added. ''Following the confrontation, our boats have continued with their sea exercises as planned.'' Fighting now erupts near daily in the north and east, where the Tigers run a de facto state they want recognised as a separate homeland for minority Tamils.

The international community has repeatedly called on the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to halt fighting that has displaced tens of thousands of civilians in the east and left a 2002 ceasefire in tatters.

REUTERS SY KP2050