Sea tigers sink SLN boat

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a communiqué released this morning that a Naval craft was sunk near the Trincomalee harbour by a suicide Black Sea Tiger boat around 1 a.m. in the early hours of the morning today contrary to initial reports about the attack.

The communiqué said, "On March 11 1998 around 1 a.m. at Trincomalee Naval craft on Patrol between Round Island and Elephant Island observed a terrorist boat attempting to enter Trincomalee harbour and engaged it with naval guns. Terrorist suicide boat exploded due to naval gunfire in very close proximity to the Naval craft. The naval craft sustained heavy damages due to the explosion and sank. Five sailors on board were rescued and two sailors are reported to be missing. A search and rescue operation is in progress."

SLN sources in Trincomalee claimed earlier that the SLN vessel had not sustained any serious damage.

Initial reports said that five SLN sailors were wounded and another five are reported missing in the attack.