The Sri Lankan navy fired early Thursday at a cluster of Tamil Tiger boats off the northwest coast. They recovered an abandoned rebel boat with four bodies and three survivors, the defence ministry said in a statement.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website, however, said the boat was carrying seven civilians who were fleeing Sri Lanka for India, and that at least at least three members of the same family were killed.
Elsewhere in the north, the military claimed it killed 23 rebels in sporadic clashes across the embattled north and northeast over the past 24 hours.
No independent confirmation of the claims was immediately available, and there was no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Both sides are known to exaggerate casualty figures.
Firing across the northern frontline of Omanthai forced the International Red Cross (ICRC) to pull back its staff on Wednesday, ICRC spokesman Davide Vignati said.
ICRC work along the frontlines to provide safe passage for