Clash in north kills 3 rebels, 1 soldier: Lankan Army
Colombo,
Sep
24:
Three
Tamil
Tiger
rebels
and
one
soldier
were
killed
in
a
clash
in
northern
Sri
Lanka
early
today,
the
military
said,
the
latest
confrontation
in
a
renewed
civil
war.
The fighting in the district of Jaffna comes after a rash of land and sea battles, ambushes and air raids between the military and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrillas in which an estimated 5,000 people have been killed since early 2006.
''They were (attacking) the forward defence line there in Kilali.
We went ahead and attacked. One soldier was killed and five were wounded,'' said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.
''Three terrorists were also killed.'' He said the military also destroyed two rebel bunkers in the clash within Tiger territory.
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. There was no independent confirmation of how many people were killed or what had happened.
Nearly 70,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since the war erupted in 1983.
Reuters
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