Sea battle shatters Sri Lanka truce

Sri Lanka's military accuses Tigers of violating their truce

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's navy and Tamil Tiger guerrillas have fought a fierce sea battle off the island's northeastern coast shattering a holiday truce.

Three navy craft were damaged and two rebel boats sunk during the pre-dawn confrontation that began when a naval patrol stumbled on a guerrilla supply convoy, officials said.

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There was no immediate comment from the rebels, who are fighting for a separate minority Tamil state in the country's north and east.

One official accused the Tigers of opening fire first.

"One of the damaged craft had to be towed to port. Seven sailors were wounded," said military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne, adding the navy had called in air support as the battle intensified.

The battle off the coast of the rebel-held Mulliativu district raged for hours despite separate cease-fires declared by by government troops and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The government cease-fire, which began five days ago to mark last week's Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, was set to expire at 6 a.m. (0100 GMT) Tuesday.

The rebels declared a unilateral cease-fire four months ago to boost a Norwegian-brokered initiative to end the 18-year conflict that has killed an estimated 64,000 people.

A Naval officer accused the rebels of firing the first shots and said the only one of the navy's Israeli-built Dvora gunboats sustained serious damage.

"It was clearly their logistics movement. We have seen several barrels oil floating in the vicinity," he told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The rebel's naval wing, the Sea Tigers, sank another Dvora last month.

The military often accuses the guerrillas of violating their truce, but peace hopes have been running high since the government said it would announce a date for talks before the end of the month.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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