Lanka bans night fishing

Fishing just outside the port of Trincomalee was limited to daytime, officials announced to the local fishing communities after Saturday's pre-dawn attack carried by an explosives-laden boat within a fishing flotilla.

There was no immediate reaction from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the military's allegations, but the guerrillas accused the navy of preventing Tamil fishermen from earning a living by banning fishing.

"The Sri Lankan Navy has banned fishing for Tamil fisherman in most sections of the north seas of the Jaffna peninsula," the LTTE said in a statement posted on its peace secretariat website.

The Tigers said nearly 1,000 families had been affected but the navy said the restriction applied to night fishing only.

Navy officials quoted two sailors who jumped into the water just before their Dvora gunboat was blown up as saying that a small craft that mingled with a flotilla of fishing boats had carried out the attack.

"The craft was about 30 metres (yard) away when the sailors noticed it making a dash for the gunboat," a navy source quoted a sailor as saying. "There was not enough time to move away or open fire."

The two sailors were rescued by fishermen but the other 15 crewmen are missing presumed dead.

Naval craft were also looking for the wreckage of the Israeli-built gunboat that was sunk and brought the biggest loss on the military since a truce in 2002.

"A search is underway but we have not been able to locate any wreckage," a defence ministry spokesmen said. "We had some reports that a few bodies (of sailors) had been found by fishermen, but the navy could not confirm it."