A climate of fear hung over elections in Sri Lanka's tumultuous east Saturday following a series of attacks blamed on the rebels and accusations of intimidation against a breakaway rebel group backing the ruling party.

The government promised the provincial elections would herald a "new dawn" for the embattled region, which was under rebel control for 13 years, was badly hit by the 2004 tsunami and then suffered through a wide-ranging war before the military ousted the Tamil Tigers last year.

But many here were skeptical that the election would change anything.

"I don't believe it. I've heard that before," Kannahi, an unemployed 50-year-old woman said after voting in the town of Valaichchenai.

Kannahi said her husband disappeared at a police checkpoint 18 years ago. She had to pull her two sons out of high school and send them into hiding so they would not be forcibly conscripted by the rebels. She can't afford a house or the dowry needed to marry off her daughter, she said.

"We need peace. We should be able to sleep without fear our children will be taken away," said Kannahi, who gave only her first name for fear of retribution.

When asked for her last name, she laughed nervously. "If I tell, I might disappear in the night. That's how things happen here," she said.

A new round of attacks blamed on the Tamil Tigers also cast a cloud over the election.

A suspected rebel suicide diver attacked and sank an empty navy cargo ship in the eastern port town of Trincomalee about 2:15 a.m. Saturday, causing no injuries, navy spokesman Cmdr. D.K.P. Dassanayake said.

A rebel spokesman was not immediately available for comment, but a pro-rebel Web site reported that suicide attackers from the guerrillas' Sea Tiger wing sank the ship.

Rebels fired seven mortar rounds into the village of Pannalgama in the eastern Ampara district Saturday, wounding four civilians _ including a 10 year-old, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara.

A bomb hidden in a package exploded in a cafe Friday evening in the town of Ampara, killing 11 people.

The government said a victory for the ruling party coalition, which includes the former rebels of the breakaway faction known as the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, or TMVP, would bring massive development to the region.

The opposition United National Party and its allies in the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress accused the ruling party of misusing state resources in the campaign. They said the TMVP carried weapons during the campaign and used threats and intimidation against voters and candidates.

Kingsley Rodrigo, head of the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections, an independent monitoring group, said the TMVP was threatening and intimidating voters across the province Saturday.

"There are many, many violations taking place," he said.

The former rebels have been accused by residents and international rights groups of waging a campaign of terror since the rebels were ousted, killing opponents, extorting money from businessmen and forcibly conscripting new recruits _ some of them children.

Despite the threats, 46 percent of the province's nearly 1 million registered voters had cast ballots by noon, Rodrigo said.

A win in a credible, violence-free poll would be a big boost for the government's morale as the economic and military toll grows from its ongoing battle with the rebels in the north.

The attacks in the eastern areas were carried out despite the presence of 28,000 police officers and an extra 4,000 soldiers _ on top of the thousands already on duty _ to secure the polls.

The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for minority ethnic Tamils, who have been marginalized by successive governments controlled by majority Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed.

About 20 police and soldiers stood guard over a polling station in a school in the town of Valaichchenai, frisking voters as they entered. When a man tried to park his bicycle nearby, the police shooed him away.C

Ending the chaos and violence appeared to be the major concern of many voters here.

"We need to live in a situation where our kids are not abducted," said one man, a 48-year-old unemployed mason. When asked his name, he responded: "You don't understand what is happening here."