A Sri Lankan spy aircraft crashed inside rebel-held territory in the island's north today while conducting an operational mission, which is in violation of a ceasefire agreement with the Tamil tigers. It was not immediately clear whether it was shot down by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or if the aircraft went down due to technical problems. According to defence sources, the controllers lost the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) while it was flying over Mankulam, near an airstrip operated by the tigers. Spy missions are a violation of a ceasefire agreement that went into effect in February 2002. Despite the truce, hundreds of people have been killed in violent clashes blamed on both sides.