Tiger suicide attack on Colombo Port foiled

By Jayampathy Jayasinghe

The Navy yesterday foiled a sea Tiger attack on the Colombo Port, destroying three sea Tiger boats which tried to enter the Port.

Naval personnel destroyed all three Tiger boats, two of them believed to be suicide craft, after the Naval Radars intercepted them, at 5.30 early morning yesterday.

The sailors deployed in observatory point fired destroying one boat, while the two others fled towards the outer harbour where ships were anchored waiting to enter the Port. The Naval gunboats pursued the two Tiger boats and destroyed both of them, one 11 nautical miles away from the coast and the other 14 nautical miles.

"We detected a movement of suspicious boats and foiled their attempt to attack the harbour," Rear Admiral Ananda Peiris, Naval Command Western Area said. He said two boats were suicide craft. A suicide craft exploded near a container vessel, Delopeonesia Pride, flag carrier of Panama and shock waves of the blast forced open doors of several containers, but the ship was unharmed.

Terminal operations in the Ports resumed within an hour of the incident. The Sri Lanka Port Authority said in a media statement that normal vessel operations commenced at 9 am.

Meanwhile, security forces yesterday in a combined operation arrested three suspects in Negombo. The three suspects, local fishermen were reported to have confessed they were hired by the Tigers, Naval authorities disclosed.

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