The suspicious ship had been detected yesterday.

The Sri Lanka Navy has previously destroyed a series of ships which were believed to have been carrying arms for Tamil Tiger guerillas.

Good intelligence helped the Navy to destroy eight Tiger arms ships during 13 months, the Navy said it its website last October, after sinking a 70 metre vessel it said was the largest such vessel destroyed.

The ship named Matsuhishima, was sunk 1,700 kilometres off the southern tip of the island, the Navy said. . More... Published: Sun Mar 2 23:24:46 EST 2008

Officials from the Media Center for National Security said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels detonated the Claymore mine around 4:45 p.m. (1115 GMT) in the northern town of Vavuniya.

Among the injured were two policemen, two members of the Civil Defense Force and six civilians.

The claymore mine had been fixed on a pushbike placed near a wayside shop in a densely populated area, officials said.

The Army said earlier a soldier was killed in a Claymore mine attack in the Pompemadu area of the Vavuniya district around 7:20 a.m. (0150 GMT). More... Published: Sun Mar 2 23:26:18 EST 2008

LONDON: Sri Lankan authorities have urged the British government to ban fund-raising activities of what they described as “LTTE’s front organisations” alleging that the money collected by these groups “ostensibly” for charitable purposes went into the “coffers” of Tamil Tigers.

They said that although the LTTE was banned in Britain, a number of organisations claiming to be “charities” were working for it.

“These funds directly go to the coffers of the insurgent group to wage war with the Sri Lankan government and spread violence among civilian populations,” a spokesman of the Sri Lankan High Commission said.

The call came after the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO) organised a cultural show to raise funds for an educational More... Published: Sun Mar 2 22:34:48 EST 2008