Sri Lanka says rebels attack navy base, several dead

Tamil Tiger boats attack and infiltrate a Sri Lankan naval base on an island off the far northern Jaffna peninsula before dawn on Thursday, and kill a number of sailors, the military said.

Tamil Tiger boats attacked and infiltrated a Sri Lankan naval base on an island off the far northern Jaffna peninsula before dawn on Thursday, and a number of sailors were killed, the military said.

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The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said they killed 35 sailors, but the military dimissed the assertion as propaganda.

"The Tigers have attacked a small naval detachment on Delft island in Jaffna. Less than 10 sailors are dead," Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "We didn't even have 35 people there. That's totally false propaganda."