At least 30 people, comprising both Sri Lankan Navy personnel and the Tamil Tiger rebels, were suspected killed in a fierce sea battle between the two sides in the northern sea waters on Thursday evening, pushing the island nation further towards a full-scale civil war.
According to military sources, the battle was triggered off in the seas off Vettilaikerny in the Northern Jaffna peninsula, when a flotilla of at least 16 Sea Tiger boats, including a couple of suicide boats, encountered the fast attack craft of the Sri Lankan navy while they were providing escort to a passenger ship Green Ocean, carrying over 300 stranded civilians from Trincomalee to Kankesanthurai.
"The Navy destroyed at least eight LTTE boats and is believed that at least 25-30 Sea Tiger cadres were killed," the military sources said. Top naval sources said the Navy also lost two Dvora fast attack crafts during the battle that lasted for over two hours.
"Four sailors survived and were rescued while the search operation to
The Lankan Civil War