Sri Lanka's Navy has destroyed suspected Tamil Tiger rebel's ship off the country's eastern coast on Sunday, said the military.

The Navy's off shore patrol vessels detected a suspected vessel at around 2:30 a.m. local time about 195 nautical miles (about 361 km) off Arugam Bay and closed up for investigations, said the Media Center for National Security in a statement.

The vessel carried no flag or mark of identification and the details provided by the ship were false, so the Navy ordered it to stop for checking, but was rejected by the ship.

"The Naval ships then fired warning shots and the suspected vessel retaliated. The Naval ships returned fire at around 7:30 a. m. after confirmation the suspected vessel was indeed carrying arms and explosives on board for the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)," the statement said, adding that the suspected vessel exploded and sank at around 9:05 a.m local time after huge explosions had been observed.

Sri Lanka Navy in recent months have attacked several ships believed to be carrying arms for LTTE rebels in Northern and Eastern provinces of the country.

The armed clashes since December 2005 have claimed over 4,000 lives by official count throwing into disarray the Norwegian backed process of direct negotiations.

Source: Xinhua