20-01-2008

Sri Lanka says fighting kills 41 rebels, soldier

COLOMBO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's forces have attacked five Tamil Tiger boats in the north, while separately troops have killed 41 rebels and one soldier died in fresh fighting, the military said on Sunday.

A six-year truce between the state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) formally ended on Wednesday, opening the way for a military push for the Tigers' northern stronghold and a bloody escalation in a 25-year civil war.

The fighting in the northern Jaffna Peninsula, northern districts of Vavuniya, Pollonnaruwa and northwestern district of Mannar came days after 27 people were killed in a bus ambush in the central town of Buttala, which the military blamed on the Tigers.

"Troops attacked a line of LTTE terrorist bunkers ... south of Adampan Tank in Mannar and completely destroyed six to eight of them," said a spokesman at the media centre for national security, asking not be name in line with policy.

"Troops also recovered the bodies of two female terrorists and some weapons."

The military said they had killed 39 Tamil Tiger rebels in fighting on Saturday and one solder also died. Separately the military in northern Jaffna peninsula had attacked five boats of the Tigers.

The clashes were the latest in renewed civil war that has seen near daily air raids, bombings and land and sea battles.

The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the fighting, and there were no independent accounts of how many people died.

The Sri Lankan government scrapped the 2002 truce on Jan. 2, deepening fears of an escalation in the fighting.

The military said more than 40 civilians, 25 soldiers and over 200 rebels have been killed in subsequent fighting. About 70,000 people have been killed since the war erupted in 1983. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Source-Reuters