Sea battle off Mullaithivu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 October 2001, 21:44 GMT]
A sea battle broke out in the seas off Mullaithivu in the north-east of Sri Lanka when Sea Tigers engaged Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) patrol boats, Sunday morning, the Voice of Tigers radio said this evening. Two SLN crafts were damaged and five LTTE members died in the battle, the radio said.

Fighting erupted around from 9 a.m. and went on till 12.30 p.m., according to the radio.

Sri Lanka Air Force jets that were called in to support the SLN crafts later bombed the coastal villages of Puthumaathalan and Ampalavanpokkanai, the radio said.

According to the radio following LTTE members died in the battle:

1. Black Sea Tiger Maj. Rosha (Ganeshan Katpukkarasi, Jaffna)

2. Cpt.Senthalir (Isithor Maryluths, Jaffna)

3. Lt. Vinothan (Yokeswaran Thilipkumar, Kilinochchi)

4. Cpt. Sellappan (Ramayah Makenthiran, Vavuniya)

5. Maj. Siva (Velayutham Thayaparan, Jaffna).