Sri Lanka sinks suspect rebel boat
By CNN's Kasra Naji
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- A Sri Lankan naval troop carrier Monday fired on and sank a suspected rebel boat that had fired on it off the east coast of the country, Sri Lankan defense officials said.
Four sailors were wounded, one of them seriously, in the incident, which is the latest in a series of similar attacks that are testing the fragile cease-fire between the government and the rebels of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE).
The sea battle happened about 13 nautical miles off the coast of Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka while the naval ship was transporting 1,700 troops to the northern Jaffna peninsula.
The boat -- which appeared to be a fishing vessel -- opened fire, wounding the sailors, the officials said.
The Navy ship then returned fire and soon sank the boat, they said. There is no word on how many were aboard that boat and there has been no reaction from the rebels so far.
Earlier this month, in international waters, the Sri Lankan navy attacked and sank an LTTE merchant ship suspected of being involved in smuggling arms. Twelve Tiger rebels were killed in that incident, which nearly derailed the peace talks between the government and the rebels.
The two sides are observing a 15-month-old cease-fire and resolved some 10 days ago, during their last round of peace talks, to hold a high-level military meeting to iron out the ambiguities of cease-fire rules governing the seas.
That high-level meeting has not yet been scheduled.
