Eight Sri Lankan sailors missing after their vessel was destroyed in an explosion blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels are presumed dead, the navy said yesterday.
"Until now we have only found debris, no survivors and no dead bodies," navy spokesman D.K.P. Dassanayake said. "They were thrown out by the blast and must have suffered severe injuries. After so many hours of searching, we have come to the conclusion that they are presumed dead."
Suspected rebels blew up their fishing boat late on Saturday to avoid capture by the nearby navy patrol vessel, leaving six rebels dead and eight government sailors missing. Eleven of the naval ship's 19 sailors were rescued.
The military blamed the blast on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but the rebels have denied involvement.
The incident in Kalpitiya, a fishing village 140km north of the capital, Colombo, was the most serious since government and rebel negotiators met in Geneva last month to try to salvage a four-year-old ceasefire.
The Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said yesterday it was too early to establish the details of the attack.
"The LTTE has denied any involvement; however, based on the mission's previous experience during the period of ceasefire, we feel that we cannot at this stage rule out LTTE's involvement," spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir said.
"There has been a dangerous escalation of violence taking place over the last couple of weeks. This trend is extremely worrying as the parties prepare themselves to meet in Geneva for a second round of talks in four weeks time," she said.
A military statement said yesterday the incident occurred when the navy was conducting an operation to detect vessels suspected of smuggling arms to the rebels.
When the navy ship pulled alongside a fishing boat and ordered it to cut its engines, the trawler suddenly exploded.
"An LTTE craft, disguised as a multi-day fishing trawler, heavily laden with explosives, blew itself up, destroying a naval craft," the statement said. "The naval craft ... caught fire and sank."
Seevaratnam Puleedevan, a top rebel leader, denied involvement by the Sea Tigers -- the rebels' naval wing.
"We have checked with the Sea Tigers' western command. They have confirmed that they are not involved," Puleedevan said.
Tamil Tiger rebels have been battling the government since 1983 to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils, alleging discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
More than 65,000 people died in the conflict before a ceasefire brokered by Norway was signed in 2002.
The truce has recently come under pressure, however, with more than 160 people, including at least 81 government security personnel, killed since last December.
In Geneva, both sides agreed to scale down violence and meet again on April 19-20.
On Feb. 11, suspected guerrillas blew up their boat off Sri Lanka's northwestern coast, killing all four rebels on board and injuring a sailor on a naval vessel that had approached.
RSS