Four sailors were killed and 30 wounded as Tamil Tiger rebels launched a heavy mortar attack against Sri Lanka's main naval facility in the northeastern port of Trincomalee Tuesday, officials said.
The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) may have targeted a ferry transporting 800 troops from the northern peninsula of Jaffna to Trincomalee, military officials said.
"The 'Jetliner' ferry was making its way to the harbour when the mortar bomb attack started," a military official said.
He said five suspected rebel boats pursued the passenger ship, but the navy was able to beat them back while ground troops fired multi-barrel rocket launchers to neutralise rebel mortar positions.
"Four naval ratings were killed and about 30 injured," the military official said. "Several buildings caught fire and we are putting them out."
At least 18 mortar bombs exploded within the naval compound next to the main Trincomalee harbour, 260 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo, and also damaged a navy gunboat.
The military immediately asked civilians to leave the harbour area, fearing more long range attacks.
"There is smoke billowing from the navy camp area," a local resident said when contacted by telephone.
The attack came as Sri Lankan airforce jets bombed suspected Tamil Tiger positions in the same district.
Tamil Tiger rebels blew up two gunboats at the Trincomalee harbour in April 1995 signaling an end to a truce they had with the then government and reverting to full-scale war.
The latest fighting came as the Sri Lankan air force kept up bombing suspected Tiger positions in Trincomalee amid moves to lift a Tiger blockade of an irrigation waterway in the district.
Despite the February 2002 truce, the two sides have been escalating attacks against each other leaving at least 940 people killed since the new government of President mahinda Rajapakse came to power in mid November.
