Sri Lankan troops destroyed a boat belonging to the LTTE off the Arialai lagoon in the northern Jaffna peninsula, while three rebels and a soldier were killed in separate incidents in the last two days, a delayed report said on Saturday. Government forces, spotting two rebel boats in the lagoon, attacked them with 81mm mortars, destroying one of them on Thursday, the military's situation report said. The incident occurred a day after a fierce sea battle off Mullaithivu had left an estimated 15 LTTE sea tigers and five naval personnel dead, while a fast attack gunboat of the navy sank under rebel fire. In the east, an LTTE suspect killed a soldier who was taking him away in a three-wheeler to an army camp for questioning. Another soldier accompanying them immediately shot the rebel dead, the report said. The incident occurred at Kiran in Batticaloa district, when the suspect fought with the soldier and grabbed his weapon while being taken away. The army said that the LTTE continued direct mortar fire in the Jaffna peninsula on Friday, in which five soldiers were injured in Muhamalai, Nagarkovil and Arialai, while two other security personnel were wounded when anti-personnel land mines exploded at Muhamalai and Columbuthurai in the last two days.
A rebel was killed by a sniper at Muhamalai on Friday while ground troops shot dead an LTTE member in Trincomalee in the east, the military said. Bureau Report