Sri Lankan Navy Attacks Large Rebel Ship

Sri Lankan Navy attacked a large vessel about 70 meters long, believed to be transporting arms for separatist Tamil Tiger fighters off the island's south coast, setting it ablaze. "We fired warning shots and they fired at us," said Commander D K P Dassanayake, a Navy spokesman adding "The ship is on fire and we can see a series of explosions. It is a big ship and is about 190 nautical miles (350km) south of the port of Galle." A Sri Lankan Navy SailorLate on Tuesday, Sri Lankan Navy destroyed two Tamil rebel boats off the north-eastern coast, killing at least 12 rebels, the country's defense ministry said. Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said that the incident occurred when 14 rebel boats coming from Mullaitivu were intercepted trying to enter the port at Trincomalee. Two rebel boats were destroyed and another four damaged in the fighting that followed, he said. Two navy men were injured. The incident comes a day after the Tamil Tigers injured the Italian and US ambassadors and United Nations representative to Sri Lanka when they fired mortars at a delegation of diplomats led by the island's human rights minister to the restive east.