Navy destroys two LTTE boats off Kalpitiya

Ranil WIJAYAPALA

KALPITIYA: Naval troops yesterday detected 28 bags of steel balls meant to be used for bombs after destroying two suspicious LTTE boats in the sea northwest of Baththalangunduva, Kalpitiya, a Navy spokesman told the Daily News yesterday.

An Inshore Patrol Craft deployed in the sea off Baththalangunduva yesterday detected these two fibre glass dinghies around 9.45 am yesterday, six nautical miles North West of Baththalangunduva.

"Naval troops aboard the Inshore Patrol Craft engaged two boats and destroyed them as they fired at Navy boats with a T-56 weapon once the Navy challenged the two boats," the spokesman added.

"We believe that the two boats were heading towards Silavatura in Mannar," he added.

In a subsequent search operation carried out using divers, the Navy found 28 sacks of steel balls containing a total of over one million steel balls, one T-56 weapon, four hand grenades, one satellite phone, and four 25 Horsepower Out Board Motor engines.

The Navy made this detection three days after the Indian Coast Guard seized a LTTE boat packed with weapons, bomb making chemicals and a suicide belt in the sea off the south coast of India.