Clash in north kills 3 rebels, 1 soldier: Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sep 24 (Reuters) Three Tamil Tiger rebels and one soldier were killed in a clash in northern Sri Lanka early today, the ilitary said, the latest confrontation in a renewed civil war.

The fighting in the district of Jaffna comes after a rash of land and sea battles, ambushes and air raids between the military and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrillas in which an estimated 5,000 people have been killed since early 2006.

''They were (attacking) the forward defence line there in Kilali.

We went ahead and attacked. One soldier was killed and five were wounded,'' said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.

''Three terrorists were also killed.'' He said the military also destroyed two rebel bunkers in the clash within Tiger territory.

The Tigers, who say they are fighting for an independent state for minority ethnic Tamils in the north and east, were not immediately available for comment. There was no independent confirmation of how many people were killed or what had happened.

Nearly 70,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since the war erupted in 1983.

REUTERS SZ AS1112