Sri Lanka said yesterday it had destroyed four Tamil Tiger boats trying to escape government soldiers closing in on the rebels’ last base in the northeast of the island.
Military sources said around 16 guerrillas were killed in the sea battle off Mullaittivu, the last town in Sri Lanka still in the hands of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The military has stepped up a naval blockade in the area to prevent any rebel leaders from leaving the country.
Reeling under the military’s biggest ground, air and sea offensive in more than three decades of fighting, the Tigers have seen their territory rapidly shrink, with their political capital of Kilinochchi falling earlier this month.
Sri Lanka’s army chief, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, said over the weekend that the Tiger leadership, including its elusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, may have already fled by sea.
The guerrillas still control a 40km stretch of coastline in Mullaittivu and the Navy said it has set up four layers of naval barriers to restrict guerrilla boat movements.
In Tuesday’s pre-dawn battle, the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry said the Navy had intercepted rebel boats trying to flee the area.
It said a Navy fast attack craft was damaged when a Tiger suicide boat detonated next to it, but that government sailors had forced the Tigers “to retreat and abandon the mission.”
There was no immediate comment from the Tigers, but the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com Web site said the guerrillas carried out a suicide attack and sank a Navy fast attack craft.
“A flotilla of Sea Tigers intercepted a convoy of Sri Lanka Navy Dvora fast attack craft [FAC],” the Tamilnet said. “A fierce sea battle ensued. One Super Dvora FAC was sunk by [suicide] Black Sea Tigers.”
The Navy denied that their craft was sunk, but said that the guerrillas had deployed a boat packed with explosives to detonate near a naval craft and cause damage.
Sri Lanka’s government pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels a year ago, and has since embarked on its most determined effort yet to dismantle the LTTE’s northern mini-state once and for all.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has said that his troops were on the verge of victory and he would not accept anything short of total surrender from the Tigers.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the drawn out separatist conflict.
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
HAZARDOUS CONDITION: The typhoon’s sheer size, with winds extending 443km from its center, slowed down the ability of responders to help communities, an official said The US Coast Guard was searching for six people after losing contact with their disabled boat off the coast of Guam following Typhoon Sinlaku. The crew of the 44m dry cargo vessel, the US-registered Mariana, on Wednesday notified the coast guard that the boat had lost its starboard engine and needed assistance, Petty Officer 3rd Class Avery Tibbets said yesterday. The coast guard set up a one-hour communication schedule with the vessel, but lost contact on Thursday. A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft was launched to search for the six people on board, but it had to return to Guam because of
RSS