Sri Lankan defense ministry said that a troop carrier vessel which had come under siege from the Tiger rebels in the north was safe but 15 sailors feared dead after a sea battle lasting several hours Thursday evening.

Prasad Samarasinghe, the defense ministry spokesman said that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels had withdrawn after the airforce had been called to assist the Navy.

Samarasinghe refuting a statement by the international truce monitors that at least two Sri Lanka Navy fast attack crafts were sunk by the LTTE, said only one fast attack craft had been sunk and some 15 sailors feared dead.

Sea battles raged around 4:00 p.m. local time (1030 GMT) off the coast of Vettilaikerani when the rebels started firing at the ship "Pearl Cruiser" which is used to ferry the government troops from the eastern port of Trincomalee to the northern port of Kankassanturai.

Navy said some 30 rebels were killed while three of their boats had been sunk by the Navy.

Army said in its official website that of the 15 LTTE suicide boats attacking "Pearl Cruiser", five were completely destroyed and four were disabled.

However, the local website of Tamilnet said only three Sea Tigers were dead in the clashes and four Sea Tigers were wounded.

The international truce monitors, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in a statement said "the LTTE have committed gross violation of the ceasefire by moving at the sea ... and putting SLMM monitors in grave danger."

"Pearl Cruiser" was believed to be ferrying some 700 troops at the time of coming under attack by the Tigers.

Two SLMM monitors were reportedly onboard on the passenger craft and a Navy fast attack craft.

Officials said Kfir bombers of the Airforce attacked rebel positions in the rebel held Mullaittivu district and the Navy fired shells at rebel positions.

The battle in the seas is the latest in a period of violence which was blamed by each other on the other party.

Since mid April over 150 people have been killed in various attacks blamed on the LTTE and the government.

The violence caused the cancellation of the second round of Geneva truce talks planned for April 24-25.

The government warned immediately after the April 25 suicide attack on the Army chief that tit for tat attacks will continue if the Tigers continued with violence.

Source: Xinhua