FAC hit in sea battle off Mullaithivu -VoT

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 October 2001, 17:37 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Fast Attack Craft was damaged in heavy fighting with the Sea Tigers in the seas 36 kilometres off the Mullaithivu coast Friday, the Voice of Tigers radio (VoT) said in its night newsbroadcast.

The SLN, meanwhile, claimed that twenty Tigers might have been killed in the fighting and that two Sea Tiger boats were sunk. The VoT categorically denied the SLN's statement.

"The Sea Tigers did not sustain any casualties," the radio said. SLN sources in the east said that a sailor was killed and several wounded in the LTTE attack.

The VoT said that a Sea Tiger attack group had intercepted a SLN flotilla around 10 a.m. this morning and engaged it with naval gunfire. The fighting raged in the seas until 1 p.m. according to the radio.