Sri Lanka rebels hit back with suicide ship attacks
©AFP/File - Lakruwan Wanniarachchi
COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels struck back against a major government offensive Wednesday with suicide attacks on merchant ships off the island's northern coast, defence officials said.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rammed explosives-laden boats against the MV Ruhuna and MV Nimalawa which were supplying the besieged Jaffna peninsula, officials said.
The ethnic guerrillas also fought a sea battle with naval units defending the port of Kankesanthurai on the peninsula. At least six members of the elite Black Sea Tiger suicide squad may have perished in the attack, officials said.
"One of the merchant vessels -- MV Nimalawa -- was crippled and the other was damaged," said a defence official who declined to be named. He said a salvage operation was underway.
He said crew were rescued by the navy and there were no reports of casualties among the merchant sailors, who were escorted by heavily armed navy troops.
The guerrillas had used three suicide boats and one of them capsized and the navy managed to capture it without its occupants, who were believed to have been killed in the naval firing, the official said. Source AFP
