The Sri Lankan government forces have sunk two vessels near the southeastern coast of the island country that were allegedly carrying arms to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE. The LTTE controls the northern peninsula of the island and is engaged in sea-battles to protect its vital supply of arms from undisclosed suppliers abroad.
The vessels were spotted by navy patrol crafts and were attacked and destroyed after they ignored warning shots and refused to surrender, the navy claimed. Lt Cdr Rohan Joseph, the navy’s spokesman, said he believed both the vessels were carrying weapons for the Tamil Tigers and were on their way to the northeastern coast.
A number of ships and large boats belonging to the Sri Lankan navy and the Sea Tigers, the LTTE’s naval wing, have been sunk in the past in sea battles.
The north and northeastern provinces of the island nation are under the de facto rule of the Tamil fighters who seek to establish an independent homeland. The Sri Lankan army has no access to many regions here. Civil administration in this area is run by the LTTE since many years.
The Sri Lanka government forces and the LTTE are engaged in a vexed war which has dragged on for more than two decades claiming several thousand men on both the sides and displacing tens of thousands of civilians. Large numbers of people fleeing the war have crossed the narrow Palk Straights and live in refugee camps in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The war has intensified recently, as the ceasefire brokered by Norway in 2002 has become ineffective due to attacks from both the sides.
Sri Lanka receives weapons and other supplies from neighboring India. The present flagship of the Sri Lankan navy came as a donation from India in the year 2000. India has again promised in February this year to deliver a former Indian Coast Guard vessel, Varaha, to Sri Lanka. Varaha will be the third large ‘blue water’ warship in Sri Lanka’s fleet along with the US-supplied cutter.
Defence co-operation between India and Sri Lanka has been a key factor in that country’s fight with the Tamil resistance in the north and northeast.
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