Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have received at least three shipments of military hardware in the recent months, a news report said Sunday quoting the island's intelligence agencies.

The arms shipments come despite claims by the Sri Lankan navy that it has destroyed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's last gun-running ship last October, the independent Lakbimanewspa-persaid.

It said the intense use of heavy artillery shells by the rebels in the northeastern Weli Oya and northern Wanni and Jaffna fronts "have raised fresh concerns” about the LTTE's ability to replenish (heir dwindling armoury.

"The general impression among the public was that the LITE had been starved of military supplies since the navy destroyed a fleet of LTTE vessels which functioned as floating armouries for the group," the report said.

"However, recent reports by

intelligence agencies suggest otherwise," the paper's defence columnist Ranga Jayasuriya said.

"They (intelligence reports) paint a gloomy picture, revealing that the LITE had unloaded three shiploads of arms during the months of February and March," it said.

Quoting a recent report "filed by the Directorate of Military Intelligence and presented to the National Security Council" Jayasuriya said that a shipload of arms had been smuggled in on March 12.