Sri Lankan troops stormed a village church where about 200 Tamil civilians sought shelter today, shooting indiscriminately and then attacking fishermen in an assault that killed five people and injured 47 more, witnesses said.

A sea battle launched by Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka has left about 50 insurgents and 17 sailors dead or missing, in a sharp escalation of violence that shoved the country back onto brink of civil war today.

Eight Sri Lankan sailors missing after their vessel was destroyed in an explosion blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels are presumed dead, the navy said today.