LTTE men blew up a boat as it was about to be searched by the Sri Lankan Navy, sinking a military gunboat, killing six rebels and leaving eight navy sailors 'missing.'
COLOMBO: Eight Sri Lankan sailors were on Saturday presumed killed when six Tamil Tigers blew themselves up sinking their own trawler and a Navy gunboat that approached them on suspicion that they were smuggling weapons, leading Colombo to accuse the rebels of violating a fragile truce.
"The suicide-style explosion carried out by the crew of the trawler causing damage to a naval vessel and claiming the lives of navy personnel is a violation of the (Norway-brokered) ceasefire," Defence ministry said in a statement after the blast along the waters dividing India and Sri Lanka.
Local fishermen rescued 11 other sailors and a search was underway to recover bodies of those killed after the Navy vessel was sunk by a powerful blast in mid-sea off the coast of Mannar in the island's northwest.
Naval Authorities suspect the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels may have been smuggling in weapons from India and said the massive nature of the blast suggested that the trawler contained large amount of explosives.
In a similar incident in January, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blew up a similar gunboat, killing 15 sailors outside the northeastern port of Trincomalee.
On Wednesday, Navy detained a fishing trawler operated by suspected rebels off the island's northern waters and arrested five fishermen. Despite talks between LTTE and Sri Lankan government in Geneva in February, the first direct contact since 2003, tension has been rising in the troubled northeast.
The rebels accused the military of building new bunkers in violation of their four-year-old ceasefire and on Monday accused the navy of attacking villages in the northeast. Navy denied the charges, saying it fired only in self-defence after attacks by the rebels.
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