Nearly 150 government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed in fighting in the island's north in the last 10 days, defense officials said Monday.
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the defense spokesman, told reporters that 137 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and 10 soldiers have died in the confrontations in the northern districts of Mannar and Vavuniya.
A large number of LTTE rebels have also been injured, Nanayakkara said, adding that 21 soldiers have been injured.
The battles are shifting to the north after the troops in mid-July claimed that LTTE rebels had been completely evicted from the Eastern Province.
Separately, Nanayakkara said that some 30 LTTE rebels were killed in the air strikes of the Air Force at Viswamadu in the northern Mullaithivu district on Oct. 2.
Some 69 rebels were killed in another air strike also in the north on Sept. 25, Nanayakkara said.
This information had been gathered from rebel communication and intelligence sources, the defense spokesman said.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in the new wave of violence sine the end of 2005.
Violence in the island's north and east has endangered the Norwegian-backed peace process.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhala majority, the LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east.
Source:Xinhua
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