Mi24 shot down, fighting on Marble Beach

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 October 2000, 05:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers shot down a Mi-24 helicopter gunship that flew into support Sri Lanka army troops and the Navy which attempted to encircle and engage them Monday morning near the Marble beach 16 kilometers southwest of Trincomalee, security sources said.

The helicopter gunship was hit in the tail by a LTTE gun position on the Marble Beach the TamilNet's Trincomalee correspondent said.

He said that the fighting erupted when LTTE reinforcements attempted to breakthrough army and Navy units which were encircling the Tiger group on the Marble Beach.

An army sergeant was killed in the fighting. The engagement is currently around the Kandalady Ootru area near the Marble Beach the Tamilnet Trincomalee correspondent said.

Several soldiers were wounded in the fighting on Marble Beach. One wounded soldier was brought to the Trincomalee hospital.

The SLA troops and Navy were rushed to the Marble beach following the attack on the Sri Lanka Navy Yard this morning to intercept a heavily armed group of Tigers who had shelled the naval yard from this sector of the Trincomalee Bay.

At least 25 Sri Lanka Navy personnel were wounded and 2 were killed in the attack by the Liberation Tiger Monday morning on the SLN gunboat and troop carrier in the Naval Yard in the Trincomalee harbour.