Sri Lanka army says 28 troops, many rebels dead

Colombo, Sep 10: The Sri Lankan army today said 28 soldiers and dozens of Tamil Tiger rebels had been killed during their advance across rebel frontlines in the north of the Indian Ocean island.

''Troops are consolidating this morning,'' said army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. ''We have suffered 28 killed and 119 injured.'' Samarasinghe said sources indicated that around 130 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels could have been killed but this was not a confirmed figure.

The army blames the LTTE for starting the latest round of fighting by shelling their frontline positions in the Muhamalai area of the northern Jaffna peninsula.

The military responded with artillery and air strikes before advancing around 600 metres across the heavily mined frontline on Friday to capture rebel bunkers.

''It's not about capturing land, it's only the neutralising of their frontline,'' said Samarasinghe.

Hundreds of civilians, troops and Tiger fighters have been killed since Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war re-erupted in late July, and more than 200,000 people have fled to refugee camps across the island's rural northeast.

Both sides blame the other for disregarding a 2002 ceasefire agreement and trying to provoke a return to all-out war.

Diplomats say it is difficult to see how to rescue the peace process with both sides apparently more interested in fighting than in talking.

Tempers have risen further since the army captured a rebel stronghold on Monday near the strategic Trincomalee harbour in the northeast of the island after days of artillery battles.

On Friday senior rebel leader S Puleedevan told Reuters the seizure of Sampur, the first major capture of territory by either side since the ceasefire was signed, was ''tantamount to a declaration of war''.

The rebels' political chief, SP Thamilselvan, said it had brought an end to the ceasefire agreement.

But the government says it was forced to take Sampur because the rebels had been using it to shell a naval base in Trincomalee and disrupt a maritime supply route to the besieged, army-held Jaffna peninsula.

''In the light of this the question of withdrawal will never arise,'' said defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella. ''We have to accept this challenge from Puleedevan.'' The rebel enclave at Sampur was also threatening an important oil storage terminal, a flour mill and a cement factory, he said.

Reuters

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