Tuesday, December 25, 2007

23 rebels killed in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan soldiers have killed 23 Tamil Tiger rebels in separate artillery attacks and gun battles along the northern front lines.

Troops stationed in the village of Pokkaravai, in Vavuniya district, came under heavy rebel mortar attacks Monday, but they managed to repel the attack with a barrage of artillery fire, killing two guerrillas, a Defense Ministry official said.

In the nearby Mannar district, separate gun battles killed nine rebels, while in the northern Jaffna peninsula, two more Tigers were killed, the official said.

A day earlier troops killed 10 insurgents during confrontations in three villages in Vavuniya, just south of rebel-held territory, the officials said. One soldier was also killed.

Fighting has escalated in recent weeks along the front lines surrounding the Tamil Tiger rebels' de facto state in the north.

A current military push is aimed at decisively crushing the separatist movement and ending nearly a quarter-century of war in the Indian Ocean island nation.

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