The Sri Lankan military said today the first clash following a Norwegian-brokered truce had sparked a full-scale sea battle with Tamil Tiger rebels and ordered more patrols on the tense northeastern coast.
The military said for the first time two Tiger boats were destroyed yesterday in a cat-and-mouse gun battle off the eastern coast, retracting the official position that no shots had been fired when a rebel flotilla stumbled on a navy patrol.
However Prime Minister Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe said the truce was not in peril as his government prepared for talks billed as best hope of ending one of Asia's longest conflicts.
Having seen the naval boats in pursuit, one of the rebel trawlers, blew itself up causing a huge pall of fire and smoke, a defence ministry statement said.
There has been no comment from the rebels who have often used boats packed with explosives to ram naval vessels - a tactic of suicide squads who have spearheaded their 19-year campaign for a separate minority Tamil state.
After the explosion, the navy spent 35 minutes chasing a second trawler manned by rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) through coastal waters packed with fishing boats.
Sri Lanka says it views attacks on rebel arms ships as a defensive measure not prohibited by the truce.
The ceasefire monitors in Colombo declined any comment except to say they were investigating the incident which follows a series of narrow brushes between the navy and the Sea Tigers, the rebels' naval wing.