SLA artillery in sea battle - residents

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A clearer picture of the sinking of the two Sri Lankan navy vessels emerged this afternoon with first hand reports of eye witnesses on the Pt. Pedro coast seeping through to Jaffna town.

Residents near Inparutty south of Pt. Pedro town said that firing was heard in the sea around 9 p.m. last night.

After about fifteen minutes a massive explosion went off and buildings in the Inparutty area had shuddered in the impact they said.

The explosion was more than a mile straight ahead of the Inparutty SLA camp, according to them.

There was silence for about half an hour and then all the camps had opened up towards the sea, firing artillery and para-lights.

Residents had kept up the whole night fearing a major confrontation.

Sri Lanka Air Force helicopters had arrived in the scene only around 2.50 a.m. in the early hours of the morning they said.