Military

DATE=10/23/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=LANKA FIGHTING (L-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-268314

BYLINE=VIKRAM SINGH

DATELINE=COLOMBO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Sri Lanka's Navy and Air Force have suffered heavy damage in a Tamil rebel attack on the eastern Trincomalee Harbor. Two sailors died and a Navy ship and helicopter gunship were lost in the fighting. Vikram Singh reports from Colombo the crew of the helicopter is missing and presumed dead.

TEXT: Military sources say the stern of a navy personnel carrier is lying on the floor of Trincomalee harbor, while the wreckage of a helicopter gunship is yet to be recovered after a morning of fierce rebel attacks.

According to Navy officials, mortar fire from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam shattered the dawn as four explosive-laden rebel boats on a suicide mission attempted to penetrate naval defenses in the harbor.

A Military spokesperson (Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne) says the navy destroyed three of the rebel craft, but a fourth managed to detonate alongside the personnel carrier, damaging it beyond repair. According to navy sources, two sailors were killed in the fighting and a fast-attack craft was also damaged.

Military officials say a short time later the army began a search operation to locate the source of the mortar fire. While providing cover to these soldiers, the helicopter gunship was shot down into the water 10-kilometers south of Trincomalee harbor.

Military reports say soldiers discovered parts of an 81-millimeter mortar during their search, while the navy destroyed two additional rebel boats outside of the harbor. The Tamil Tigers have not commented on the attacks.

Analysts say the loss of military hardware is a critical issue for the government, which embarked on record-breaking military procurements to counter rebel advances in the northern Jaffna Peninsula earlier this year.

Retired Air Vice Marshal Harry Goonetileke says the losses mean that recent budget increases may prove to be a waste of money. He tells V-O-A that while these losses should not affect the military's operational capability, they are a serious setback.

Military officials say the Trincomalee region - 230-kilometers northeast of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo -has been relatively quiet in recent weeks. Observers of Sri Lanka's 17-year conflict say Trincomalee's natural harbor makes it central to the Tamil rebel's vision of a separate state in the north and east of the country.

More than 60-thousand people have died in the island's civil war. (SIGNED)

NEB/VS/RAE