SL soldiers kill 6 Tiger rebels in far north

Colombo, Aug 7: Sri Lankan soldiers killed six Tamil Tiger rebels after they were ambushed in the north of the island, the military said today, the latest clash in a renewed civil war.

The gunbattle in the district of Vavuniya yesterday came hours after suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels killed one soldier and wounded five others and a civilian with two roadside bomb attacks, also in the north.

''The LTTE attacked an army foot patrol. We have retaliated and communication (intercepts) confirmed six of them were killed,'' a spokesman at the Media Centre for National Security said, declining to be named in line with policy.

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.

A spree of land and sea clashes, ambushes and air raids have killed an estimated 4,500 people since last year alone, taking the death toll of a conflict that erupted in 1983 to around 70,000.

Fighting between the state and rebels is now focused in the north after the military evicted the Tigers from their last stronghold in the east. However analysts see no clear winner on the horizon and fear the fighting could grind on for years.

Reuters>