Attack boats enter Harbour of Colombo, SLN claims destroying 3 boats

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 January 2007, 02:24 GMT]
Three to five attack boats Saturday morning entered the outer harbour waters of Colombo Harbour and launched attacks on Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vessels. Big explosions were heard, according to the crew members of a cargo ship. SLN claimed to have attacked and destroyed 3 "suspicious boats" moving towards restricted waters off Colombo, around 5:40 a.m. Shock waves from the explosion slightly damaged a Panama registered container vessel PELOPONESIAN PRIDE, approaching the harbour. A search operation was launched by the Sri Lanka Navy and the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) after the explosions, that comes 3 months after an attack on Galle Harbour.

There were unconfirmed reports of four big explosions. Details were not available.

The inner harbour remained closed for a few hours and the Sri Lanka Navy took press reporters on a tour inside the harbour when the inner harbour was opened again.

Five Sinhalese fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy and released later.

No fishing vessels are allowed to come in to restricted zone that stretches approximately 10 nautical miles seaward from the Colombo port.

A statement issued by the Defence Ministry, quoting SL Navy sources said, one boat was destroyed by a SLN fast attack craft 6 nautical miles off Colombo and the other two at a location 11 nautical miles from Colombo.

Land sentries manning the southern perimeters of Colombo harbour detected the boats and informed the Naval Craft at sea, the ministry said.

Confusion amidst harbour attack black out

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 January 2007, 20:29 GMT]
Conflicting details are emerging about the attack off the seas of Colombo harbour, Saturday morning. An informed source told TamilNet Saturday evening that four vessels were destroyed by the attackers, while the SLN authorities said they have destroyed 3 “suspicious boats”. SLN sources said Saturday evening that they have captured 9 "suspects" who were "fleeing" from the Harbour area.

The port remained shut for 2-and a half hours. The SLN toured reporters inside the High Security inner harbour.

However, sources in Colombo confirmed that there were four big explosions off Colombo coast, Saturday morning.

The LTTE has not commented on the incident.

 

Union: Navy destroyed fishing boats, not Tiger craft

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 11:36 GMT]
On Saturday Sri Lanka’s military said it had foiled a Tamil Tiger attack on the Colombo port and that three Sea Tiger boats had been destroyed. The navy said nine people had been arrested in connection with the attack. However, the All Ceylon Fisheries Union (ACFU) Tuesday contradicted the military and said the Navy had fired on fishing boats and arrested fishermen. An alleged black out on news had censored details of an attack said to have destroyed four Sri Lankan vessels in Colombo Harbour last Saturday. A flotilla of five attack boats and four explosions were registered by eyewitnesses.

On Saturday the Sri Lankan Defence Minsitry said naval craft blew up one boat Saturday after the three were spotted near a restricted zone, before chasing and sinking the other two.

"The navy successfully foiled the (LTTE) attempt," the ministry said.

Six people, including three who jumped out of one of the suspected LTTE craft, were arrested, military officials were quoted as saying.

A foreign container vessel, Pelaponesian Pride, flying under a Panamanian flag, was damaged by the explosion of the second rebel boat hit by the navy, Navy Rear Admiral B.A.G.G. Peiris told reporters, adding: "a container burst open and came off its original position as a result of the shockwaves."

However the All Ceylon Fisheries Union (ACFU) contradicted the defence ministry’s version of events, saying naval craft fired on Sinhala fishing craft and arrested innocent fishermen.

President of the Gampaha branch of the ACFU, Aruna Roshantha, spoke to the BBC Sinhala service Tuesday.

Fishermen had witnessed fishing boats being attacked by the Navy, he said.

"The boats caught up fire and blew up. Nine crew members from the blown up boats were detained. Three are still in custody", he said.

Roshantha said one of the boats destroyed by the Navy was bearing no. OFRPA 1666MBO.

Twenty one fishermen are among those arrested in connection with the alleged attack on the Colombo Port, he said.

"Our boats were fishing about 20 miles from Colombo in the deep sea when the Navy Dvora gunships sorrounded them", Roshantha said.

Meanwhile the Sunday Times said that the alleged attack came just half an hour before the Navy, with the support of elements of the Army and Police, were to carry out a rehearsal of the Colombo Harbour Action Plan.

Police stations and port authorities were among those informed that the rehearsal was scheduled to begin at 6 am, the paper said.

The LTTE has not commented on the attack.

 

Fishing hamlet fears backlash after Navy arrests

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 February 2007, 12:40 GMT]
Residents of a fishing hamlet north of Colombo say their community has been dangerously stigmatised after the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) last Saturday blew up one of their boats, seized two others and arrested nine people alleging complicity in a Sea Tiger attack on Colombo port. Munnakkarai is a mixed ethnicity fishing community of around 5000 people, located 1 km southwest of Negombo.
 

 

On Saturday 27 January, at around 7:00 a.m., Sri Lanka Navy gunboats pursued one of Munnakkarai’s boats, intercepting it 25 km north of Colombo harbour, community representatives told reporters Thursday.

Agitated and panicky SLN personnel ordered the 3-man crew to jump overboard and then opened fire on the boat, destroying it.

The SLN also arrested the three crew and 6 other fishermen from two other boats, which were towed to shore and ripped apart by investigators.

The nine fishermen, one of them a Tamil, arrested by the navy were handed over to naval intelligence, Munnakkarai residents said.

SLN interrogators alleged that the fishermen had collaborated with the Sea Tigers in carrying out attacks on a number of SLN vessels in the early hours.

Meanwhile, local Sinhala media alleged that fishermen from Munnakkarai had received one million rupees from the Tigers to ‘harbour and guide’ their attack craft towards Sri Lankan naval vessels guarding the Colombo Harbour.

After the arrests, when the fishermen society approached ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) local leaders who had a support base among the fishing community, six fishermen were released.

But intelligence officials subsequently arrested another six people from Munnakkarai, including another Tamil fisherman.

Munnakkarai residents said they were fearful that amid the authorities’ seeming determination, supported by the media, to implicate their hamlet in attacks on the Navy, they would face a backlash.