COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s navy sank a ship believed to be
ferrying arms and ammunition to separatist Tamil Tiger rebels off the
island’s east coast, the military said Sunday.

Patrolling naval vessels spotted a ship off Arugam Bay, 322 kilometers
(199 miles) east of the capital Colombo, early Sunday, an official at
the Defense Ministry’s media center said on condition of anonymity,
citing policy.

He said the ship was not flying a flag and when contacted by the navy
gave false details about the ship and refused permission for a search.

The navy destroyed the ship after it fired at the naval patrol, the
official said, adding that subsequent explosions on the ship confirmed
it was carrying explosives.

The navy destroyed a similar suspicious ship on Feb. 28 off the
country’s southern coast, killing 12 crew members.

The incident comes as government troops and Tamil Tiger guerrillas
intensified clashes in Sri Lanka’s north and east, where the
insurgents want to carve out a separate state for the country’s ethnic
Tamil minority.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have fought the government since
1983, ostensibly on behalf of the Tamil community who suffered decades
of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

A Norway-brokered cease-fire signed in 2002 scaled down the violence
but the conflict resumed in late 2005. At least 4,000 people have been
killed in a resumption of violence, even though no side has officially
withdrawn from the truce.

More than 65,000 people were killed before the cease-fire.
source:
http://groups.google.com/group/Sinhala-Unicode/browse_thread/thread/41072f4cbffd6432/bc55a2840610fa47?q=arugam&rnum=1#bc55a2840610fa47