COLOMBO, May 24: Violence peaked on Thursday with a pre-dawn ambush by the Tamil Tiger rebels on a northern Navy camp and three separate bomb explosions, one in the capital Colombo targeting an army bus.

The rebels claimed 30 navy personnel were killed at sea in the Delft island off the northern Jaffna peninsula while the government military said 18 sea Tiger cadres were killed and four rebel boats destroyed. Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe however said only three sailors were killed in the clashes which lasted for over two hours.

According to the Media Centre for National Security, intercepted LTTE communication had revealed that 18 sea tiger cadres including 4 rebel leaders had been killed. Rebel military spokesman, Ilanthirayan in a statement carried on the pro-LTTE website Tamil Net acknowledged only four deaths. Four sea Tigers were killed in action, the website said quoting Illanthirayan said.

At least 30 Navy sailors were killed, a Dvora Fast Attack Craft was destroyed and two other Naval vessels sustained damages, according to the Tiger spokesman.

“Tiger commandos stormed the southern part of the islet with a High Security Zone fortification of the Sri Lanka Navy around 12:45 am, completed their "surprise mission" in two hours and returned to their base with weapons seized from the Navy”, the Tamil Net website said.

Twelve heavily armed sea tiger boats directed a chain of small arms fire and rocket propeller guns at the naval base at the Delft island, government military officials said that the navy retaliated sinking four LTTE boats. The military vehemently denied rebel claims of inflicting heavy casualties.

Meanwhile, in morning in central Colombo a bomb tied to a motorcycle exploded killing one soldier and wounding four more. Three civilians also sustained injuries, the defence ministry said. The explosion in a busy street crowded with shops and offices, was triggered by remote control, police sources investigating the bombing said. Several vehicles including five motor cycles at a nearby parking lot was destroyed in the blast.

In northern Vavuniya early on Thursday a bomb explosion by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels at a military checkpoints killed three police personnel, military officials confirmed. The Tamil Tiger guerillas meanwhile claimed that a woman and her brother were instantly killed in a claymore mine attack in a rebel controlled part of Vavuniya blaming the army ‘deep penetration unit’ for the attack.

The military denied the allegation.