Tamil Tiger rebels ambushed an eastern Sri Lankan military post and killed at least two soldiers, officials said yesterday, days after the military captured several main rebel bases, leaving dozens of guerrillas dead.
Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the rebel attack took place in Batticaloa district's Vavunativu village late on Sunday.
The areas is about 50km south of Vaharai village, the scene of fierce weekend fighting.
Tamil Tiger spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan confirmed the incident, indicating that the rebels are still active in eastern Sri Lanka despite the military operation.
"Acquiring some real estate does not mean much," Ilanthirayan said, referring to the military's advance into eastern rebel territories.
Fighting between the Tigers and security forces has escalated in the past few months as the government has stepped up attempts to rout insurgents from parts of the north and east.
The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to establish an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils following decades of discrimination under the majority Sinhalese-dominated government.
A 2002 truce still exists on paper, but has largely collapsed since the resurgence of large-scale fighting last year.
On Sunday morning, Sri Lankan troops killed at least 18 Tigers as they tried to flee into rebel-held jungle in Batticaloa district, Samara-singhe said.
Troops also found the bodies of 22 rebels who were killed in an army assault on Saturday on several rebel bases in Batticaloa district's Kathiraveli and Vaharai villages, he said.
On Saturday, the army took control for the first time in 11 years of a main road connecting the island nation's two main towns, Batticaloa and Trincomalee.
The village of Vaharai, located on an impoverished rebel-held strip of coastline in Batticaloa district, has been the scene of heavy fighting for months.
More than 500 combatants have been killed in Vaharai since October, according to the military.
The government says the Tigers used Vaharai as a transit point to smuggle drugs and arms into the country and as a base for naval attacks.
The army's capture of Vaharai sent thousands of terrified villagers fleeing toward the neighboring government-held village of Mankerni, from where they were transported to several refugee camps far from the battle zone.
They are staying in flimsy tents and crowded school facilities.
Worried Tamil parents said their children were being detained as security forces screened refugees for suspected rebels.
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