Sri Lanka says sinks rebel boat as flotilla attacks

COLOMBO, May 24 (Reuters) Sri Lanka sank one of a flotilla of Tamil Tiger rebel boats, including suicide vessels, that attacked a naval-base island off the northern peninsula of Jaffna before dawn today, the navy said.

''We are confronting the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) on land and at sea. There were 15 boats, including three suicide boats, off Delft island in Jaffna,'' said Navy spokesman Commander D K P Dassanayake. ''We have destroyed one boat.'' He said it was unclear how many Tiger rebels had landed on the island. There were no details of any casualties or damage.

The attack is the latest in a series of land and sea battles in recent months amid a new chapter in a two-decade civil war that has killed nearly 70,000 people since 1983.

REUTERS DKS PM0655