The period of calm around the restive northeastern district of Trincomalee came a day after 110 combatants were reported killed or missing in a sea battle off Jaffna, a peninsula hundreds of miles to the north.

"There is relative quiet in Trincomalee and our mobile phones are working again after weeks," a local resident said by telephone.

Mobile networks had been blocked by the government during weeks of artillery exchanges around the port town to prevent the rebels using them to better target their attacks.

Military officials said Sunday that a ground offensive to capture a rebel artillery position at Sampur 10km away that targeted the port complex had been called off because of stiff rebel resistance.

Meanwhile, a second cargo ship was due to leave the capital Sunday with supplies of food and medicine for desperate residents of the embattled Jaffna peninsula, the site of a six-hour sea battle on Saturday.

A cargo ship from the capital arrived last week in Jaffna following the end of a two-week siege imposed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that also blocked shipping from the main supply base of Trincomalee.

The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website said at least 30 Sri Lankan sailors were missing following the rebel counter attack that also damaged two Israeli-built gunboats. The military said 80 rebels were killed.