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Big battle between army and rebels erupts in Sri Lanka 's northwest+
Associated Press,
Sat March 24, 2007 08:32 EDT .
COLOMBO, March 24 (Kyodo) Heavy fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and Tamil Tiger rebels occurred in the country's northwest on Friday and Saturday, with both sides giving conflicting figures of losses. The Defense Ministry said nine soldiers were killed and 45 others injured in two straight days of fighting, while the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam claimed in a report posted on the pro-Tiger TamilNet website that ''around 60 soldiers were killed.'' Quoting rebel officials, TamilNet said, ''Sri Lankan Army soldiers were forced to flee the battlefield with tractor loads of dead bodies.'' The ministry said that a suspected rebel blew himself up as he was being checked at a military checkpoint in the northern Jaffna Peninsula on Saturday, killing himself and a soldier. Fighting was intense in the border between northern Vavuniya and Tiger-held areas of northwestern Mannar, the army said. The LTTE accused the military of using a ''civilian human shield'' in advancing against Tiger artillery fire, an allegation which was flatly rejected by the army which said they were not seeking to overrun rebel-held areas but were moving to neutralize LTTE gun positions. More than 4,000 people have been killed in fighting since December 2005 despite a cease-fire agreement between the government and the LTTE which was signed in February 2002. The agreement is now in tatters.Discuss this story
Published: Sat Mar 24 13:08:21 EDT 2007
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