Sri Lanka raid sparks fishing ban

The rebels say 1,000 families are affected by the ban

Sri Lanka's navy says it has banned night fishing off the north-east port of Trincomalee to search for bodies of sailors killed in Saturday's ambush.

At least 13 sailors were killed when their navy boat was rammed in an attack the military blames on Tamil Tigers.

The rebels have made no comment on the attack but accused the navy of preventing Tamils from earning a living by imposing the fishing ban.

The raid has sparked new fears the four-year truce might collapse.

International peace monitors said the truce was "under pressure like never before".

Wreckage not found

A statement by the Tamil Tigers said: "The Sri Lankan navy has banned fishing for Tamil fisherman in most sections of the north seas of the Jaffna peninsula."

It said almost 1,000 families had been affected.

However, the navy said the ban applied to night-time only.

The two sailors who survived the attack by jumping off before the explosives-laden craft struck said that it had emerged from a flotilla of small boats.

"The craft was about 30 metres away when the sailors noticed it making a dash for the gunboat," a navy source quoted a sailor as saying.

"There was not enough time to move away or open fire."

The navy said a search for bodies was under way but the wreckage of the Israeli-made gunboat had not been found.

The ambush was the third deadly attack in two weeks. Eleven soldiers died in a mine attack near Jaffna on 27 December and 13 sailors in another mine attack in north-western Sri Lanka on 23 December. The Tigers denied involvement in those attacks.

Security has been stepped up further in Trincomalee

This week five Tamil youths were killed in Trincomalee in what rebels said was an extra-judicial killing by the military. The military said it was not involved.

Pro-rebel supporters called a five-day strike in protest at those killings.

The already tight security in the region has been stepped up further since the navy ambush.

Hagrup Haukland, the head of the Scandinavian peace monitoring mission in Sri Lanka, said the ceasefire was under intense pressure.

"The question is how long the Sri Lankan security forces can take it," he said.

President Mahinda Rajapakse on Saturday called for restraint after a meeting with top military officials.

A diplomat close to the peace process told AFP news agency the violence could get worse before the sides agree to peace talks, which have been deadlocked since April 2003.

But he added: "Neither side wants to be the one to break off the process and go back to war."

The Tamil Tigers want a separate state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

More than 60,000 people have died during two decades of conflict with Sri Lanka's government.