Navy sinks Tiger arms ship

Rasika SOMARATHNA

* Severe blow to LTTE

* Fourth Tiger ship destroyed within a month

COLOMBO: A desperate attempt by the LTTE to smuggle arms to the embattled Wanni was foiled last morning, with the Navy destroying the LTTE's 10th vessel 1,700 Km south off Dondra Head.

This is the second such crippling blow to the LTTE’s arms smuggling capability within a span of one month, with the Navy destroying three Tiger vessels in early September.

The 70 metre long ship capable of carrying 3,000 tonnes of cargo was completely destroyed and sunk, with a large haul of weapons and equipment around 9.30 a.m. yesterday, by three Navy craft which pursued it for one and a half days.

No casualties were reported from the Navy. There had been a crew of 12-15 in the destroyed ship. Their fate was unknown at the time of going to press.

Navy spokesman Commander D. K. P. Dassanayake told the media yesterday that three Naval craft had been deployed after receiving information regarding a LTTE rogue vessel. One Navy had tracked it for over 07 days.

After failing to detect the ship within the 400 k.m radius, the Naval craft ventured into international waters where they had sighted a vessel without a flag or a name, Dassanayake said.

After seeing the Navy vessels the suspicious ship had increased speed and flead South wards, where the Navy vessels after a 36 hour chase finally intercepted it around 5.30 a.m. yesterday.

The Navy spokesman said that Navy ships had challenged the rougue vessel according to the international law.

The name which was provided by them was found to be false. Subsequently Navy craft had fired warning shots according to norms.

The rogue ship had started firing then and the Navy had to resort to retaliatory fire in self defence, completely destroying the ship, which had sunk around 9.30 a.m yesterday.

According to the Navy spokesman, this was a desperate attempt by the Tigers with a possible offensive to liberate Wanni looming large.

The LTTE reeling without men and material in the face of offensives by Security Forces had been dealt a severe blow by the Navy by destabilising LTTE’s international arms smuggling capability, Dassanayake said.

The Navy spokesman said they were collecting some floating items. The ship was believed to be carrying water scooters, jet skies, diver delivery craft, outboard meters, radar systems, heavy guns, mortars, explosives and unspecified equipment used for intelligence surveillance.

This is the eighth such ship destroyed during the last 20 months since President Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed office, sources said.