Navy foils Sea Tiger attack off Trincomalee

Rafik Jalaldeen

TRINCOMALEE: The Navy yesterday foiled a Sea Tiger attack killing over eight Sea Tiger cadres while inflicting heavy damage on an LTTE boat, when a Navy patrol opened fire at two Sea Tiger craft hugging the South coast off Poduwakkattu, Trincomalee in the wee hours of yesterday, Navy Spokesman Commander D.P.K. Dassanayake said.

The Naval patrol along the Eastern coast observed two suspicious boats moving Southwards around 4.30 a.m. When the navy patrol approached the suspicious boats it was fired upon . "A fierce fight lasted for 20 minutes," Commander Dassanayake told the Daily News.

He said the Sea Tiger bid to land on the coast failed due to the Navy's retaliatory attack. "The Navy attacked the Sea Tiger boats with the assistance of its land units and Fast Attack Craft," he added.

The Naval patrol successfully retaliated the attack killing more than eight Sea Tigers and completely destroying a boat and severely damaging the other.

Commander Dassanayake said that the bodies of a male and a female Sea Tiger cadres were recovered along with a 12.7 mm machine gun, 7.62mm Multi Purpose Machine Gun (MPMG), a T-56 assault riffle, four life jackets and a communication set in the damaged boat.

"The boats were equipped with machine guns and 85 horsepower out board motors," he added.

The Navy suffered no casualties. Sailors are conducting a search operation.