COLOMBO, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's air force bombed Tamil Tiger rebels in the island's east on Saturday, the military said, hours after a renegade group announced it overran rebel camps and killed at least 30 militants.
The military, stepping up an offensive in the east, said a Tiger artillery gun position was destroyed in an air strike in Vakarai, one of the last major rebel strongholds on the coast.
Another strike was carried out on a Sea Tiger base in the nearby Pudukudiyirippu area, the military said in a statement.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east, said at least four civilians, three of them from one family, were wounded in the air strike.
Fighting between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military has intensified in recent weeks. A 2002 truce is now in tatters and thousands have died in violence this year.
Earlier on Saturday, a splinter LTTE group said 200 of its members attacked Tiger camps in the jungles of Toppigala about 40 km (25 miles) from the town of Batticaloa in one of the biggest raids in months.
"Our intelligence reports said there were top LTTE commanders there, 30 cadres were killed on the spot," said Asad Maulana, a spokesman for the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, the political wing of the Karuna faction.
Karuna Amman, a former Tiger eastern commander, split from the LTTE in early 2004, taking an estimated 6,000 fighters with him. He accused the rebel leadership of discriminating against Tamils in the east -- his traditional stronghold.
The LTTE says the renegade group is backed by the military.
Two members of the Karuna group were wounded in the 90-minute attack, Maulana said. The three camps, including one for women fighters, were destroyed and a large quantity of ammunition including two rocket launchers was found.
Three Tiger rebels were killed in another attack on Saturday in Paththiruppu, about 16 km from Batticaloa, Maulana said. Two members of the Karuna group were killed in the fighting.
REPULSED
The LTTE said the attacks were repulsed and that only four of its cadres were wounded. It said the attack in Toppigala was carried out with the support of the Sri Lankan military firing mortar bombs.
"They came to attack our camps around midnight and tried to infiltrate, but we counter-attacked," LTTE defence spokesman Rasaiya Ilannthirayan told Reuters.
"They dispersed in the jungles along with a SLA (Sri Lankan army) group which was working in the background."
He said the body of one member of the Karuna group was found in the jungle while another was captured alive.
"They had dreamed they would kill our leaders, they had dreamed 30 of our cadres would be killed, but it did not happen," the spokesman said.
Independent verification of the fighting in the remote area is not possible, and the military, the Tigers and the Karuna group are known to exaggerate rival casualties while playing down their own losses.
More than 3,000 people have been killed this year in suicide bombings, clashes and air and naval raids.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the renewed conflict, including many who were made homeless by the tsunami that battered the eastern coast in 2004. (Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal)
(http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP24910.htm)
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