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Lankan navy destroys rebel ship: 20 killed

AP, PTI, Colombo
Sri Lanka's navy sank a Tamil Tiger rebel ship and four smaller attack boats in a battle that killed 20 guerrillas off the northeastern coast early yesterday. the military said.
The naval attack came amid a sharp escalation in the 25-year-old civil war between government forces and the ethnic Tamil rebels. Government troops in recent months have made dramatic progress in fighting the rebels in the north, seizing a series of guerrilla bases and swaths of territory.
It also intercepted a cluster of rebel boats and destroyed four attack craft, which were attempting to support the logistics vessel, defence officials said.
They said according to reports, about 20 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels were killed in the naval battle. The rebel ship had been detected by the Navy's offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) on a surveillance mission in the deep sea in the wee hours of the day, the Navy said.
The sea clash erupted after naval patrol vessels spotted the rebel ship at about 2 am on Saturday some 70 nautical miles off the coast, said navy spokesman Cmdr. Mahesh Karunaratne.
He said when navy boats approached the
suspicious ship, "it increased speed and tried to flee" while firing.
Navyboats retaliated and destroyed the ship in a battle that lasted about two hours, he said.
He said the 100-foot (30-meter) vessel was carrying arms and war materials for the rebels.
Four boats that came to the support of the ship were also destroyed, he said, adding at least 20-25 rebels were killed. The navy did not suffer casualties, he said.
Meanwhile, two SeaUger leaders were killed in an air attack launched by the Sri Lankan Air Force MI-24 helicopter gunships targeting LTTE boat movements yesterday.
Air Force sources said two woman LTTE leaders, Suhandini and Siran, were killed in the air attack in Kilaly lagoon area.
The rebels could not be reached for comment.
The Tamil Tigers have a strong naval force and often ram boats packed with explosives into government naval ships in suicide attacks.
On Friday, air force jets pounded rebel bunker lines and other fortifications in the Kilinochchi district in the north, the military said in a statement Helicopters also attacked a flotilla of boats belonging to the Sea Tigers, the rebel naval wing, that were gathered in a lagoon.