A Sri Lankan navy craft was destroyed in a blast off the island's north-eastern coast yesterday while searching out potential Tamil Tiger rebel activity, both sides said.
The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they sank the navy fast attack craft (FAC) by using three suicide bombers who also perished.
The Sri Lankan navy, however, reported that the vessel was destroyed in a blast from a sea mine.
Six sailors from the locally made Dvora-class FAC were rescued by another boat patrolling the waters off the Tamil Tiger stronghold of Mullaitivu district, navy spokesman D. K. P. Dassanayake said.
Ten more were missing after the pre-dawn blast.
"The officer in charge and five others from the FAC were rescued," Dassanayake said.
"One of them said the craft started taking in water after a huge explosion. They got into a life raft," he said.
"The FAC was hit by a sea mine," Dassanayake said.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com Web site reported that the navy craft was sunk in a suicide attack launched by three "Black Sea Tigers," or suicide bombers.
Tamilnet said that a sea battle ensued after the sinking, but Dassanayake denied there had been any confrontation with the Tigers.
The blast came hours after a military bus was hit by a landmine in the district of Mannar on Friday night.
That incident left at least two soldiers killed and six wounded, the military said.
The government claims that it has killed 2,242 rebels since January, compared with the loss of 131 of its own troops.
Clashes between suspected Tamil Tiger ships and the Sri Lankan navy have escalated in recent months amid heavy fighting in the island's embattled northern and eastern regions.
The LTTE relies on ships to transport black market weapons to the northern part of the island under its control.
The rebels have been fighting for a separate Tamil state since 1972. Thousands of people have been killed in a new wave of fighting since December 2005 when a Norwegian-brokered truce began to unravel.
Six rounds of direct peace talks and two further rounds aimed at saving the truce ended in October 2006, leaving the 2002 deal in tatters The truce was formally ended by the government in January.
The military has pushed out the LTTE from its last bastion in the east of the tropical island, a victory that has largely confined the rebels to their mini-state in the north.
Security forces have been trying to dismantle the de facto northern state of the Tigers, but the guerrillas have been offering stiff resistance.
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