Navy  foils LTTE Sea Tiger  Suicide Attack in Mullaithivu Seas:  03 Sea Tiger Boats sunk and 23 Sea Tigers killed

Sri Lanka Navy’s elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS), Fast Attack Craft (FAC) and Rapid Action Boat Squadron  (RABS) destroyed three (03) Sea Tiger boats killing twenty-three (23) sea tigers in the seas off Mulliathivu around  0100 hours today (1st of May 2009).

The vigilant Naval troops engaged a combined cluster of two Sea Tiger suicide craft and one enemy attack craft  which abortively attempted  to launch a suicide attack against  the Naval craft deployed on patrolling in the seas off  Mulliathivu  in the early hours  today. The two suicide craft laden with high explosives and the enemy attack craft were completely destroyed  in the  Naval  gun fire while killing 23 sea tiger cardres. Meanwhile,  monitoring of the sea tiger communications has  revealed that  LTTE sea tigers have suffered severe casualties in this confrontation.

The round-the-clock vigilance  maintained by alert Naval troops  on continuous  Naval  patrol close to the now fast- diminishing enemy stronghold, has been instrumental in thwarting LTTE’s Last ditch desperate sea tiger attacks on ground troops. The Navy’s patrol craft  have recently been able to inflict heavy enemy cadre and vessel losses on the LTTE sea tigers.  Naval fortifications have been tightened with multiple defense barriers consisting of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), Fast Gun Boats (FGBs), Fast Attack Craft (FACs), the Rapid Action Boat Squadron (RABS) and the Special Boat Squadron (SBS). Continuous shore-based radar surveillance is also being carried out in order to compliment Naval units to prevent remaining LTTE cadres from launching desperate attacks on advancing Security Forces personnel and to cut off the fleeing attempts of tiger leaders trapped in the No Fire Zone.