Sri Lankan government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels exchanged gunfire and skirmished at sea on Sunday, bringing to an end a four-day lull in fighting around the besieged Jaffna peninsula. Residents reported brief exchanges of gunfire south of Jaffna near a vital road artery as well as a volley of artillery fire from both sides. A military spokesman said Sri Lankan naval vessels and "Sea Tigers" from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also clashed at sea and that one rebel boat had been sunk.In a statement, the national security media center said a large vessel carrying weapons and ammunition had been sunk 100 miles off Kalmunai. It said the unflagged vessel had opened fire on a Sri Lankan navy ship when ordered to halt and was subsequently sunk by navy and air force fire. "Large quantities of weapons and ammunition including artillery guns had submerged with the vessel," the statement said, without saying how this may have been confirmed.
A response from the LTTE was not immediately available. Norwegian mediators are trying to fix a date for direct talks between the government and LTTE rebels after both sides announced last week they were ready to resume talks after a gap of five months. But both have also set conditions, with the government demanding a written guarantee that rebel attacks would cease, and the Tigers insisting on an end to army offensives. The government and rebels accuse each other of trying to restart a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983. The LTTE pulled out of peace talks in April and a new bout of fighting erupted in late July, killing hundreds of troops, rebels and civilians in the worst violence since a 2002 ceasefire.