Tamil Tiger rebels sank two navy gunboats in separate incidents on Thursday and were firing at a ferry transporting some 700 troops.
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels sank two navy gunboats in separate incidents on Thursday and were firing at a ferry transporting some 700 troops, a spokesman for the Scandinavian truce monitors said.
Around 15 Sri Lankan sailors were feared dead after Lankan fast attack boat was sunk by Tamil Tiger rebels in the first incident. The military called in aircraft to bomb suspected Tiger positions after the sinkings, military sources said.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sank a fast attack craft escorting the MV Pearl Cruiser, which is carrying 700 soldiers off the island's north, and another gunboat at Point Pedro, Helen Olafsdottir said.
"They are now attacking Pearl Cruiser and are putting the lives of our monitors in danger," Olafsdottir said, adding that members of the Scandinavian Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) had three close calls on Thursday.
It was not known how many monitors were travelling aboard the ferry transporting troops. The navy and the Tigers were also engaged in a sea-to-ground battle at Muttur where SLMM monitors had a narrow shave, Olafsdottir said, adding they were awaiting details of casualties on both sides.
"The LTTE have committed gross violations of the ceasefire agreement in recent days by moving at sea with the aim of provoking the Sri Lankan Navy," the SLMM said in a statement. It said the "offensive operations" against the navy had placed SLMM monitors in grave danger.
"The sea surrounding Sri Lanka is a government-controlled area. This has been ruled so by the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in line with international law. Non-state actors cannot rule open sea waters or airspace. The LTTE has therefore no rights at sea," the monitors said.
They said the LTTE had also threatened SLMM monitors, warning them not to take part in patrols in navy vessels.
"The SLMM takes these threats very seriously and would like to remind the LTTE of its responsibility as an equal partner to the ceasefire agreement to do everything in its power not to jeopardise the monitors' safety. We, therefore, demand that the LTTE immediately ceases all activities and operations at sea as they are a serious violation of the ceasefire," the statement said.
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