Sri Lanka says it foiled rebel sea suicide attack

Sri Lanka's navy says it destroyed two explosive-laden Tamil Tiger rebel boats that attempted to crash into two cargo ships sailing to the country's troubled north.

Navy spokesman D. K. P. Dassanayake says the boats approached the ships early Wednesday off the shores of Myliddi in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

He says sailors guarding the ships fired at the boats, destroying two, and captured one them. He says at least one rebel died in the apparent suicide attack.

Dassanayake says the navy suffered no casualties but that one navy ship was damaged when one of the rebel boats exploded.