Sri Lanka's navy said on Saturday it sank 12 Tamil Tiger craft in a pre-dawn naval battle off the island's northern tip, killing dozens of guerrillas including suicide fighters, but the rebels dismissed the claim.
The clash at sea near the besieged army-held Jaffna peninsula comes amid five weeks of intense fighting after four years of ceasefire, and as the army seeks to wrest control of rebel territory near a strategic port in the island's northeast.
"It was a major attack. There were 20 rebel boats. We were able to destroy 12 LTTE craft, including five LTTE suicide boats," a military spokesman told Reuters. "They were humiliated in their so-called seas and withdrew."
He said he believed at least 75 Tigers had been killed, but there was no independent confirmation. A pro-rebel Web site said two navy boats were sunk in the confrontation, but officials laughed off the claim.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said eight of their fighters were killed in the clash, but said none of their boats were sunk.
"The Sri Lankan navy was disturbing fishermen along the coastline, so we had to push them back," Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone from the rebels' northern stronghold. "None of our boats sank. Only a couple were damaged."
Analysts suspect both the rebels and the military are playing down their own death tolls.
The military spokesman said two sailors were injured and two navy fast-attack boats were slightly damaged by gunfire in the battle, which raged through the night and into the early hours of Saturday