Heavy fighting kills 70 in Lanka
Tamil Tiger separatists and government forces fought intense battles across Sri Lanka's embattled northern region, killing at least 62 rebels and eight soldiers, the military said yesterday.
Deadly infantry clashes raged throughout the day Thursday along the front lines separating government controlled territory and the rebels' de facto state in the north, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.
Clashes in Kilinochchi district, home to the rebels' de facto capital, killed 17 rebels and five soldiers, he said. Another 14 soldiers were wounded.
Other battles killed 20 insurgents and three soldiers, he said.
The Tamil Tigers, meanwhile, said they repelled a government offensive in Kilinochchi on Thursday, killing 25 soldiers. The report was seen on the rebel-affiliated TamilNet Web site.
A ferocious sea battle off the island's northwest coast on Thursday killed 25 rebel sailors and wounded two government sailors, Nanayakkara said.
He said the four-hour battle off the coast near Nachchikuda resulted in the sinking of seven small rebel boats and three medium-sized ones.
With most communication with the northern areas cut, rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment.
Both sides often offer contradictory versions of fighting that takes place deep in the northern jungles and routinely exaggerate enemy casualties and underreport their own.
Independent verification of the fighting and casualties is difficult to obtain because most journalists are banned from the war zone.
Fighting has escalated on the Indian Ocean island in recent weeks with the government promising to crush the rebels by the end of the year.
The rebels have been fighting for an independent state in the north and east since 1983.
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