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Heavy sea battle off Jaffna

COLOMBO: A heavy battle erupted between the Navy and the Sea Tigers off the Deft Island in Jaffna on Wednesday. While the military claimed to have destroyed six LTTE attack boats killing 40 cadres, the TamilNet said the Tigers had sunk a Dvora Fast Attack Aircraft and inflicted “heavy casualties” on the sailors.

The Defence Ministry conceded that a dockyard-built naval craft was damaged when two LTTE boasts with suicide cadres exploded in retaliation to the naval attack.

It said six LTTE boats including two with suicide cadres were destroyed during the confrontation. It said “decisive strikes” were made at a 16-boat LTTE cluster.

The statement alleged that the LTTE elements were engaged in a “clandestine sea movement smuggling warlike material towards the non-liberated Nachchikudha coast.” The Ministry said the Sea Tigers fled southwards.

Separately, the military claimed that at least 11 Tigers were killed and two bunkers destroyed along the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) in the north. The Army apprehended a suspicious vessel 90 nautical miles off East of Arugambay on Tuesday. “Navy personnel are now checking the ship. According to the reliable information the ship’s crew comprises Indonesian nationals.

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