5 killed in two different clashes in Sri Lanka

Colombo, Mar 19 (UNI) At least five combatants, including two LTTE cadres, were killed and several more injured in two separate clashes between the Lankan troops and the Tamil Tiger rebels in the country's restive eastern province.

According to defence sources, at least two soldiers were killed and six more wounded when a group of LTTE cadres mounted an attack on the government troops engaged in consolidating their positions at Unmichchai in the Eastern Batticaloa district yesterday.

The military said LTTE too have suffered ''heavy damages'' during the confrontation, though further details are not known yet.

In another incident in the Eastern port city of Trincomalee, two LTTE cadres and a Lankan soldier were killed when a group of 40 LTTE cadres clashed with an Army clearing patrol unit at Senddimalai, few miles north of Peraru in the Trincomalee district.

UNI