Sri Lanka says kills 42 rebels as fighting grinds on

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops captured Tamil Tiger rebel positions and killed at least 42 militants, including an area leader, during two days of fighting in the island's north, the military said on Friday.

The military said they had captured rebel positions in the north-western district of Mannar on Friday.

The clashes occurred along a "border" that separates government and rebel territory.

The government is trying to drive the rebels from their northern stronghold and bring an end to a 25-year civil war. But analysts say neither side is winning as the rebels repeatedly hit back with suicide and roadside bombings and air attacks.

"A one kilometer stretch of LTTE positions were captured by the troops this morning. The confrontation killed 12 LTTE terrorists, while two soldiers died and five were wounded," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The military said fighting on Thursday killed 30 Tiger rebels, including the area leader, and wounded 24 others in the northern districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar and the north-eastern district of Trincomalee. One soldier was killed and eight were wounded from the fighting.

A civilian and a soldier were wounded from rebel mortar bomb fire on Friday into a village in the northern area of Weli-oya.

The rebels, who are fighting for a separate state in the Indian Ocean island's north and east, were not immediately available for comment.

There was no independent confirmation of what had happened or how many people were killed, and analysts say both sides exaggerate enemy casualty figures and play down their own.

Fighting between the military and the rebels has intensified since the government scrapped a six-year ceasefire pact last month. It said the rebels were using the truce to re-arm.

The military has captured large swathes of territory from the Tigers in the east of the country in recent months and vastly outnumbers them.

Thousands of people have been reported killed since last year as the truce crumbled and analysts expect the conflict to drag on with civilians being an easy target for rebel suicide bombers and roadside mine attacks on buses.

An estimated 70,000 people have died since the conflict began in 1983.

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal)

Source: washingtonpost.com