COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 02, SPA -- Sri Lankan forces fended off arebel sea attack Monday and destroyed two Tamil Tiger boatsas fighting raged in the nation's civil war, the militarysaid. The military has forced the rebels out of much of their defacto state in the north, boxed them into a small patch ofland along the coast and pushed them to the brink of defeatafter more than 25 years of warfare, Associated Press reported. Early Monday, the rebels' small naval wing sent 15 vessels_ including four suicide craft _ into the water under coverof heavy mortar fire to attack Sri Lankan forces, theDefense Ministry said in a statement. Government troops destroyed two boats and damaged a third,the statement said. It did not elaborate on what happenedto the rest of the vessels.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/640224