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Military says 10 Tamil Tiger rebels killed in eastern Sri Lanka
Associated Press,
Wed January 10, 2007 07:52 EST .
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ The Sri Lankan army said Wednesday that it killed 10 Tamil Tiger rebels during a battle in the country's volatile east. Meanwhile, suspected Tigers ambushed two camps from a breakaway faction, killing several fighters.
``Army troops came under attack on Wednesday morning and soldiers repulsed their (rebel) artillery and mortar attack,'' acting military spokesman, Maj. Upali Rajapakse said about the battle in eastern Batticaloa district.
He said the military estimated 10 rebels were killed and 25 others wounded.
There was no immediate comment from the rebels.
The Defense Ministry meanwhile blamed the mainstream Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the attacks on the breakaway faction elsewhere in Batticaloa district late Tuesday, and the three sides disagreed on the number of casualties.
The pro-rebel TamilNet said unidentified assailants killed at least 10 members of the breakaway Karuna rebel faction and wounded four more.
A spokesman for the Karuna group, Azad Moulana, acknowledged that three members were killed in the attack, and added four attackers were also killed. He blamed the Tigers.
The spokesman for the mainstream rebels, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, declined to comment on the incident, but said four of their fighters were killed in the same area by the Sri Lankan military. He spoke from the rebels' northern stronghold of Kilinochchi.
The Tigers claim the Karuna rebels _ named for the renegade commander, nicknamed Karuna, who led their defection _ are helping the Sri Lankan military. The military denies the charge.
Sri Lankan military spokesman, Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe, confirmed the attacks on the renegades, but said two Karuna members died and two were wounded.
Karuna and thousands of other guerrilla fighters from eastern Sri Lanka broke away from the mainstream Tigers in 2004.
Eastern Sri Lanka has become a hotbed of violence between the military and the Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting for more than 20 years for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.1 million minority ethnic Tamils after decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
Both sides claim to be adhering to a 2002 cease-fire, but violence in the north and east has escalated since late 2005. More than 3,600 people died in fighting last year.
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Published: Wed Jan 10 09:13:34 EST 2007
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