COLOMBO, Jan. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- A Sri Lankan Navy fast attack craft (FAC) with 15 sailors on board sank in the early hours of Saturday after a heavy explosion, defense officials said.

    The attack, w hich was believed to have taken place at around 1:30 a.m. local time (1930 GMT) in the Fowl Point area in the Trincomalee harbor's northern end had caused the FAC to lose communication, the Navy said.

    A big explosion was heard off the coast of Foul Point early Saturday, police in the eastern port town said.

    However, the defense authorities said no further details were available as the Navy was in the process of gathering more information on what was suspected to be a suicide attack carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

    It was not immediately clear if the Tigers had signaled a return to hostilities with the explosion.

    A similar attack on a Naval boat in the same Trincomalee harborhad triggered the third phase of Sri Lanka's separatist armed conflict in 1995 after a period of cessation of hostilities.

    The ongoing Norwegian-backed cease-fire has been under severe stress since the beginning of December with the LTTE carrying out as many as four separate claymore mine attacks on the government troops, killing some 40 soldiers.

    The international truce monitors warned that the resumption of war was not far away if the violence continued. Enditem