Over 24 Tigers rebels are believed to have been killed on Sunday when the Sri Lankan Navy attacked and destroyed a ship carrying arms for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"The attack on the ship took place in the Indian Ocean, at the high seas off Dondra Head, of the southern coastal tip of Sri Lanka at around 8.45 am on Sunday," a top naval official said.
"Initially, the Navy had received credible information about the ship traveling towards Sri Lanka and detected it," the official said, adding that the confrontation resulted in the Navy completely destroying the ship and sinking it.
"There were 24 to 25 people aboard the ship and we believe all of them have been killed," Defence Spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The Lankan naval task group comprising Off Shore Patrol vessels SLNS Sayura, SLNS Sagara, Fast Attack Vessel SLNS Suranimila and Rendezvous vessel 521 were engaged in the elite operation.
Later, the Sri Lanka Defence Ministry held a high-level meeting to assess the situation.
The Navy has so far destroyed ten arms vessels belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, including the three which were destroyed on September 10.
There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE on the latest incident. The attack on the LTTE ship follows a series of gun-battles in the country's restive northern region in which eight rebels and a soldier were killed on Saturday.