Seven Sri Lankan sailors and their speedboat were missing Tuesday following a sea battle with Tamil Tiger rebels near the maritime border with India, diplomats and officials said.The clashes erupted on Monday when two navy speedboats moved to push back a fleet of what they believed to be poaching fishermen from India, a military official said. “We suspect Tigers had taken the cover of Indian fishermen to attack the naval craft,” the official said, adding that Sri Lankan authorities had lodged a complaint with India about hundreds of fishing trawlers in its waters.
Diplomatic sources said Indian authorities had been alerted to the case of the missing sailors, who were operating near Sri LankaÂ’s northern Talaimannar naval facility, and the fact that rebels may have been disguised as fishermen. The clash came as Sri Lanka marked its 60th anniversary of independence from Britain amid tight security, but celebrations were overshadowed by a string of bomb attacks that killed 14 people and wounded 20.
Air raid: Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan air force bombed a suspected Tamil Tiger base in the north of the island Tuesday, the defence ministry said. There were no details of casualties or damage. President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday said in an address to the nation that the war against the Tamil Tigers was being won.
Funerals: Sri Lanka staged mass funerals for bomb blast victims on Tuesday after independence day festivities were marred by a string of attacks blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels. Schools in Colombo were shut as a Buddhist service was held for seven students and their baseball coach killed in a suicide bombing at a train terminal here on Sunday on the eve of Freedom Day. After funeral rites, the coffins were taken to the victimsÂ’ homes for burial.
In the northeastern Weli Oya region, a funeral was held for three people killed on Freedom Day in a bomb attack on a civilian bus that left 14 people dead and 15 injured. Five people killed on Saturday in a bus bomb attack were buried in a mass grave in Kandy district on Monday.