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Intense fighting breaks out in northern, eastern Sri Lanka

Heavy clashes broke out between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in three areas of Sri Lanka's volatile north and east, killing a large number of insurgents and injuring eight soldiers, the military said yesterday.

The fighting came a day after the government said it is ready to resume stalled peace talks with the Tamil rebels late this month in Switzerland.

The Tigers launched an attack on a military camp in Mankerni in Batticaloa District early yesterday, military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said.

Rebels could not immediately be reached for comment.

The army, supported by fighter helicopters, repulsed the rebel attack.

"We have pushed them back," Samarasinghe said, adding that a large number of rebel bodies were lying on the battlefield, but that exact details were unavailable and that fighting was continuing.

Two soldiers were wounded in the attack, Samarasinghe said.

In the northern Jaffna Peninsula, six soldiers were wounded yesterday when Tamil Tigers fired artillery toward northern defense line, he said.

Samarasinghe said the air force later launched air strikes on rebel artillery and mortar positions.

Separately, soldiers destroyed six Tamil Tiger rebel boats off the country's northern coast suspected of transporting fuel, he said.

The boats were destroyed overnight in the sea near Pallaithivu, an islet off the northern Jaffna Peninsula, by the soldiers' artillery fire from the ground, he said.

A suspected oil storage facility on the islet also caught fire and was destroyed, he said.

A round of peace talks is planned for Oct. 28 and 29 in Switzerland. The last round of peace talks aimed at ending two decades of civil war was held in February.

The rebels agreed to unconditional talks with the government, but warned they would pull out of a 2002 ceasefire accord if the government persists with its military campaign.

The government cautioned it would counter any offensives by the insurgents.
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