Five Lankan soldiers killed in fresh clashes in North

Colombo, Mar 17 (UNI) Five Sri Lanka soldiers were killed and 19 wounded in two separate clashes when LTTE fired volley mortar shelling on Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) of the government troops at Omanthai in the North of Sri Lanka.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the troops manned at the FDLs at Omanthai entry/exit point came under the ''intense LTTE mortar attacks'' and launched retaliatory strikes forcing the rebels to withdraw towards Mullikulam with heavy casualties yesterday.

''Four soldiers were killed in the attack while another 12 sustained injuries. Six more soldiers who sustained minor injuries have already rejoined troops after treatment,'' a Defence Ministry statement said, adding that the wounded soldiers were admitted to the Anuradhapura base hospital.

However, the pro-LTTE Tamilnet reported that hundreds of Sri Lankan soldiers, who advanced into LTTE-held Palamoddai area in the northwest of Vavuniya, were forced to hurriedly withdraw from the area, leaving behind military hardware as the Tigers put up stiff resistance.

In another incident yesterday at Nagarkovil and Muhamalai FDLs, the LTTE fired artillery and mortar attacks well over one hour, killing one soldier and injuring another.

The government troops and the LTTE are frequently engaged in artillery and mortar exchanges in these regions during the past few weeks.

UNI