B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s military on Wednesday said the LTTE’s Sea Tiger cadre carried out a suicide attack, targeting merchant ships MV Ruhuna and MV Nimalawa.
Navy spokesperson D. K. P. Dassanayake claimed three LTTE suicide vessels were involved in the attack. “Navy sailors providing onboard security fired at the approaching boats and destroyed two of them,” he said. One of the boats exploded in close proximity to MV Nimalawa, damaging the ship’s hull.
The third craft has been captured and the cadre operating the boat killed. The Navy described the incident as a cowardly attack to deny essential supplies to the civilians living in war-affected areas. The pro-LTTE TamilNet said the Sea Tigers carried out a “Black Tiger attack on Sri Lankan ship MV Nimalawa, which carried military and other supplies, in the Sri Lankan naval harbour in Kankeasnthurai, Jaffna. The supply ship was sunk and another vessel, MV Ruhuna, sustained heavy damage, the Tigers said,” it said.
Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry website said the attack on merchant vessels with essential cargo to Jaffna’s civilians comes within a week after LTTE shelled a U.N. food convoy to the internally-displaced persons in Mullathivu and Kilinochchi.
“Have India’s support”
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told Parliament on Tuesday the government has not faced any “external pressure” regarding its military operations to defeat terrorism and disarm the LTTE. He said India has made its position on defeating terrorism very clear, and if there is a country that has helped Sri Lanka to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, it is India.
Mr. Bogollagama referred to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s telephone call to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 18, during which he briefed Mr. Singh on Colombo’s course of action to defeat terrorism, disarm the LTTE and restore peace.
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