Lankan Navy foils Sea Tigers attacks, kills 34 rebels

In a pre-dawn attack, Sri Lankan Navy on Wednesday destroyed six LTTE boats and foiled seven attempts by the rebels to recapture the Rektavaikkal fortifications killing 34 Tamil Tigers, amid reports that Velupillai Prabhakaran may try to flee the island through the sea route.

Lankan warships detected six Tiger boats sneaking out of the coastal patch they still hold, sinking all of them and killing 25 rebels on board, a Naval spokesman said.

The presence of boats with the Tigers indicate that they are still holding on to some of them to facilitate the escape of top LTTE leaders.

"There were 25 rebels on board the six Tiger boats that were sunk on Wednesday morning," the spokesman said, adding that four of the craft were laden with explosives for a possible suicide strike against Lankan boats to make a passage for the other two boats to make a getaway.

In fresh offensive, army on Wednesday captured another LTTE fortification killing nine more rebels.

Meanwhile, British and French foreign ministers, who are here on an official visit, said they had failed to prevail upon the Sri Lankan government to announce a ceasefire and allow international aid agencies access to the war zone.