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| Southeast Asia |
| Tigers sink Sri Lankan Navy ship |
| 2008-05-11 |
| Tamil Tiger rebels sank a navy ammunition ship moored in the northeast of Sri Lanka on Saturday in an attack coinciding with key elections in the tense eastern province. The guerrillas said their Sea Tiger commandos managed to infiltrate the tightly guarded port of Trincomalee in the early hours, holing the cargo ship as it was being loaded with ammunition destined for government troops. The navy said the “MV Invincible” sank after the underwater explosion but no lives were lost, with the blast shaking many people in the town from their beds on the same day elections were to take place. “Commandos from Kangkai Amaran unit of the Sea Tigers took part in the naval mission in destroying the 80-metre-long vessel,” the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said in a statement from their northern mini-state. The explosion came just hours after a bomb ripped through a crowded cafe in Ampara, also in the east, late on Friday, killing 12 people and wounding at least 36. Officials also blamed the LTTE for that attack. Despite the ongoing violence, voting was held on Saturday for the eastern provincial council that the government hopes will boost its fight against the ethnic rebels, who control a large part of the island’s north. The polls are the first to be held in the eastern districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara in 20 years, and close to a million people are eligible to vote. The eastern region, once home to several LTTE enclaves, was brought under government control after heavy fighting last year and Colombo is determined to show normality has returned. In Trincomalee district, which shares the same name as the port town, voting was low key. People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFRELL), a Sri Lanka rights group, said many locals preferred to stay home after the pre-dawn blast. “Turnout in Trincomalee and Ampara is around 50 percent each, and Batticaloa 30 percent. People are really frightened to go out and vote,” said PAFRELL chairman Kingsley Rodrigo. |
| Posted by:Fred |