Rebels launch suicide attack on Sri Lanka naval base
Suspected Tamil rebels posing as fishermen blew up two of their boats in a suicide ambush on a naval base, killing at least one navy sailor in the first such attack on Sri Lanka's touristy southern coast, the military said.
An additional sailor was missing and at least 11 others were wounded after militants in five boats launched the attack in the resort town of Galle, while one navy boat suffered minor damage, a Defence Ministry spokesman said.
PK Wijewickrema, a doctor at Galle hospital, gave a higher number of casualties, saying the hospital was treating 12 sailors and 26 civilians for injuries.
Police imposed an open-ended curfew in Galle, and an Associated Press reporter there said the town was calm, but under heavy security.
"A curfew is being imposed very strictly ... and no one can come into the city and cause damage," said Galle police Senior Superintendent Keerethi de Silva.
The attack could signal a major shift for the Tamil Tiger rebels, whose decades-long campaign for a separate homeland for minority ethnic Tamils has largely focused on Sri Lanka's north and east, which they claim as their cultural heartland.
It also could be a major blow to Sri Lanka's tourism industry, with peak season about to begin in Galle and its nearby beaches, a major draw for travellers.
Galle, 70 miles south of the capital, Colombo, also is home to Sri Lanka's main southern naval port.
The suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blew up two of their boats after entering the harbour area posing as fishermen, while the navy destroyed the remaining three boats, the Defence ministry spokesman said.
All the rebels were killed, but it was not immediately clear how many insurgents were aboard the boats, he said.
The attack also was expected to further damage peace efforts ahead of scheduled talks between the government and rebels starting October 28 in Switzerland. Both sides this week committed themselves to the talks.
It was the second attack on the navy this week.
On Monday a rebel suicide bomber rammed a truck filled with explosives into a military bus convoy in central Sri Lanka, killing at least 95 sailors and wounding more than 150 others - the deadliest insurgent attack since a 2002 cease-fire temporarily halted the country's civil war.
Last Wednesday, fierce battles on the besieged northern Jaffna Peninsula killed at least 129 soldiers and more than 200 rebels, and left hundreds of others wounded.
The surge in violence comes as Sri Lanka faces increasing international pressure to return to the negotiating table.
Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi was scheduled to hold talks with rebel leaders in the north today, while Norwegian envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer arrived in Colombo on Tuesday for meetings with government and rebel officials.
US envoy Richard Boucher will make a two-day visit to Sri Lanka starting tomorrow.
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in the north and east, citing decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. About 65,000 people were killed before the 2002 cease-fire.
