Suicide Attack on Sri Lankan Naval Base

C O L O M B O, Sri Lanka, Oct. 23 -- Tamil Tiger rebels launched a daring suicide attack on Sri Lanka’s biggest naval base today, sinking one naval vessel, damaging another and shooting down a combat helicopter in a nearby land battle.

A government statement said three security personnel werekilled and 43 wounded in the fighting in and around the naval base in the eastern port of Trincomalee, some 175miles northeast of Colombo.

“Three suicide boats were destroyed by Sri Lanka navalunits and one suicide boat exploded close to the Navalpier...,” the statement said, adding a troop transporter ship had been sunk and a gunboat slightly damaged.

The statement said the navy had destroyed two other boatsof Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) outside the harbor.

Two of the dead were sailors on the gunboat, but thetransporter which can carry up to 400 people was empty at the time of the attack.

The rebels also shot down an air force helicoptersupporting troops in a land battle at the nearby Marble Beach from where the rebels fired mortars on the naval base.

“It looks like there were no survivors among the four mancrew,” said military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne after the Russian-built MI-24 helicopter crashed into the sea.

Packed With Explosives

Karunaratne said that between 30 and 40 rebels werecornered on a tongue of land in the Marble Beach area, once a popular tourist resort.

The statement said the guerillas were holed up in a hotel.

Army Cmdr. Gen. Lionel Balagalle said at least fourrebels were killed on Marble Beach, though LTTE casualties from the suicide attacks are not yet known.

Other military officials said the assault was carried outby a flotilla of up to 10 small, high-powered boats, somepacked with explosives. Most escaped after the attack.

They said the Sea Tigers, the LTTE’s naval wing, had alsoopened fire on naval positions at Kokilai, a lagoon some 45 miles north of Trincomalee.