Navy sends three LTTE arms ships to Davy Jones

Silent warriors of the Sri Lanka Navy sent three arms carrying ships of the LTTE to what sailors call the "Davy Jones' locker" or the bottom of the sea, in three successive attacks carried out by them from last morning to this morning (September 11).

Navy sources said the attacks took place in the Indian Ocean, 600 Nautical Miles (1200 Km) South East of the Sri Lanka's southern tip of Dondra Head. Navy gun ships, acting on information provided by the Naval Intelligence Department were patrolling in the region when the Argus-eyed sailors onboard made the first detection last morning.

The first LTTE ship was detected around 8 on Monday morning. The Navy gun-ships had rounded up the suspicious ship which had no ensign or name on it and ordered to identify itself, using the international challenging procedures. Instead of providing the information to the Navy, the suspicious ship had opened fire towards the navy ships compelling the sailors to fire in retaliation, causing the ship to be destroyed around 10.30 a.m.

Later the same day, the Navy detected two more suspicious vessels in the same waters sailing in the same direction as the first ship keeping about a 50 Km gap between each other.

By evening, Navy gun ships came close to the second ship which bore similar characteristics to the first vessel. Navy sources said that the second ship too had opened fire at the approaching navy ships and therefore was sunk around 5.30 in the evening.

The third suspicious vessel was first detected around 10 p.m. After five hours of pursuit, the Navy could get sufficiently close to it. This vessel had fired 120 mm heavy mortars at the approaching Navy vessels before it was sunk by naval fire around 3 this morning.

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda said the Navy Intelligence Department had received information on the LTTE ships about two weeks earlier, and proactive action were taken by Navy Headquarters to intercept them. Speaking at a media briefing in Colombo this morning, the Navy Commander revealed that with the latest triumph of the Navy, nine out of ten ships believed to be owned by the LTTE terrorists have been destroyed.