Sri Lanka boat blast, Tamil Tigers blame navy

The Tamil Tiger rebels accused the Sri Lankan navy today of barring Tamil fishermen from going to the sea, a day after suspected insurgents rammed a fishing boat packed with explosives into a navy vessel, killing 13 sailors.

“The Sri Lankan navy has banned fishing for Tamil fisherman in most sections of the north seas” off the Jaffna Peninsula, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said on their Web site.