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Four rebels killed in clashes with Sri Lankan troops

Sri Lankan soldiers killed four Tamil Tiger rebels in two separate clashes in the volatile north yesterday, the military said, while in the east, troops found the bodies of 15 rebels killed in battles during the week.

The insurgents attacked an army foot patrol near Muhamalai, a border post dividing the government and rebel-held areas in Jaffna peninsula early yesterday, said Lieutenant Colonel Upali Rajapakse, a senior military official.

He said soldiers repulsed the attack by rebels who had infiltrated government-held areas and later found the bodies of two rebels.

Also yesterday, troops fired at insurgents near Point Pedro town in Jaffna, triggering a pre-dawn clash, Rajapakse said.

Two rebel bodies were found later. The army did not suffer casualties, he said.

There was no immediate comment from the rebels.

The military said soldiers found the decomposing bodies of 15 rebels and nearly 100 anti-personnel mines when searching territory captured from the guerrillas this week.

LAST STRONGHOLD

That brings the estimated rebel death toll to 45 in Tuesday's clashes in the Thoppigala area between the army and the separatist Tamil Tigers, an official at the Defense Ministry information center said.

Soldiers have driven out the guerrillas from many of their eastern bases and Thoppigala is believed to be their last stronghold.

The Tigers had no immediate details, but a rebel spokesman said the bodies could be those of civilians killed by the military.

"There can be several possibilities. Several [civilians] who went to that area in search of cattle have disappeared. It could be the work of the military," Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone from the rebels' northern base of Kilinochchi.

The violence comes amid a worsening separatist conflict in Sri Lanka that has killed more than 5,000 people since December 2005, rendering a five-year-old ceasefire useless.

Even though the two sides have largely ignored the ceasefire as battles between the two escalate, neither side has officially withdrawn from the agreement.
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