According to the English-language daily The Nation and other local media, India has loaned a "Vikram class" coastal patrol ship to the Sri Lanka Navy as a temporary replacement for a similar ship provided by India in 2000.

That vessel is being refurbished by the Indian government at no cost to Sri Lanka, according to the Nation.

"These reports have come against the backdrop of repeated assurances given by the Indian leadership that India, as a matter of policy, will not provide any lethal weapons to Sri Lanka," the Tamil National Alliance said in a statement.

The ship carries machine guns and cannon on board, according to the Indian coast guard web site.

Indian High Commission spokeswoman Nagma Malik said India provides "some training and other support to Sir Lanka's defensive capabilities but we do not comment on the details."

New Delhi is thought to be wary of becoming embroiled in the conflict after its attempt in the late 1980s to disarm the rebels ended with the deaths of some 1,200 Indian troops and India's subsequent withdrawal from the island.

But there have been growing calls by Sri Lanka's government for India to take a more active role amid an escalation in the conflict over the past year following the unravelling of a Norwegian-brokered 2002 ceasefire deal.