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Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday denied accusations by the navy that they were involved in the sinking of a Chinese trawler in the northern sea of the country.
Officials of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said that they had informed the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) supervising ceasefire between the government and the rebels that none of their gunboats were in the area, which is being patrolled by Sri Lankan navy gunboats enforcing a naval blockade against rebel-held territory, the Tamilnet website reported on Friday.
The LTTE had also informed the SLMM that they were not involved in the incident in any way, LTTE officials were quoted as saying.
One Chinese fishing trawler with a 26-member crew was sunk after it had come under rocket propelled grenade attacks by an unidentified group some 16 nautical miles off Chundikulam in the east of the country in early hours of Thursday, killing at least 14 on board.
One Sri Lankan national and eight Chinese were rescued by another Chinese trawler in the area, which had not come under attack.
(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2003)
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