Sri Lanka rebels say fighting spreads to north

COLOMBO, Aug 11 (Reuters) The Tamil Tigers said today the Sri Lankan military had attacked their northern territory and bombed a training camp in the east, killing many rebels, as the battlefront of the worst fighting since a 2002 truce spread.

The rebels said troops were trying to breach a ''border'' that divides government territory from land they control in the northern Jaffna peninsula. They said fighting that has raged in the east for 17 days was spreading in the east.

''They are firing artillery and trying to breach our borders,'' Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan told Reuters by telephone from the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi. ''They are trying to thrust towards Kilinochchi, so our soldiers are retaliating.

The Tigers said Air Force Kfir jets had pounded rebel positions in the eastern district of Batticaloa, around 35 miles (60 km) south of the site of a disputed waterway, near which fighting has been concentrated until today.

The military had no immediate comment.

Army trucks towed fresh heavy gun parts towards the main battle front further north after an army camp was wrecked overnight when an artillery gun accidentally exploded, igniting an arms dump.

Officials said three troops were injured in the blasts, but said no one had been killed as was feared late yesterday.

''The operation to defend the water continues,'' said Major Upali Rajapakse, senior coordinator at the National Security media centre.

The government says it will not halt operations until it controls the disputed sluice and an irrigation reservoir that feeds it. The Tigers say the land is theirs, and say continued army attacks are an effective declaration of war.

The Tigers said on Thursday more than 50 civilians had been killed and 200 wounded in their territory from army shelling.

Doctors said six troops were killed and more than 50 wounded during an abortive government push to capture the sluice.

The Tigers have long demanded a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka but President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled this out. The rebels say any return to stalled peace talks is a distant prospect.

Aid groups accuse the government of forcing civilians to flee Tiger areas by shelling and deliberately blocking aid to thousands of displaced there. More than 30,000 displaced are now housed in cramped, squalid conditions in makeshift camps in army-held territory.

The government is under pressure to allow independent experts to take part in a probe into the execution-style killing of 17 local staff of international aid group Action Contre La Faim. Some relatives of the dead blame troops.

The army denies any involvement in the killings of the aid workers, and blames the rebels. The international community demands answers -- and a return to peace talks.

''We call on the LTTE to return to political negotiations and to renounce terrorism,'' the US embassy said in a statement.

''At the same time, we look to the government of Sri Lanka to address the legitimate grievances of Tamil-speaking people and to respond to incidents of violence against civilians with prompt, independent investigations.'' REUTERS DKB RAI1902