Sri Lanka’s navy destroyed two suspected Tamil Tiger boats off the island’s northwest coast on Friday, killing four fighters, a military official said. Navy patrol boats sank the two small boats near a series of small islands off the coastal district of Puttalam, and said divers recovered bomb-making equipment they were carrying. “The navy detected two suspicious boats this morning coming from the Indian side and ordered them to stop. They fired at us and we destroyed the two with four occupants on board,” said navy spokesman Commander DKP Dassanayake. “Navy divers recovered 28 bags which contained 1.5 million steel balls made in India, which are used for Claymore mines,” Dassanayake added.
The Tigers were not immediately available for comment. In a separate incident, air force jets bombed a suspected Tiger mortar position near the border that separates the rebelsÂ’ northeastern de facto state from the besieged army-held northern Jaffna peninsula.