Sri Lankan troops sank a suspected vessel carrying arms to the Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday, said a government minister.

Keheliya Rambukwella, the minister of policy planning and the government's defense spokesman, said that the vessel was sunk about 100 nautical miles (about 185.2 km) off the eastern coast town of Kalmunai.

"At around 7:30 this morning (0200 GMT) the Navy spotted a suspected vessel sailing without a flag. When ordered to deviate and come towards Trincomalee, the response received from the vessel was gun fire," said Rambukwella.

Rambukwella said the Navy and the Air Force then went into a joint operation and sunk the suspected vessel.

The minister said that the vessel could have been carrying arms for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. The Navy source said the sinking of the vessel came after a 4-hour gun battle mid-seas.

The clash is the latest in a series of violence and military action between the two sides since the end of July.

The LTTE action to close down an irrigation sluice gate triggered the military action in the Eastern Province and then the battles shifted to the northern Jaffna Peninsula.

Several hundred fighters of the government troops and the rebels perished in the clashes, the worst since the ongoing Norwegian-backed truce came into force in February 2002.

The clashes also displaced over 230,000 people. Both sides still maintain that they uphold the cease-fire and committed to the process of negotiations to end the bloody armed separatist conflict.

More than 64,000 people have been killed since the mid-1980s in one of the world's longest running conflicts.

Source: Xinhua