Sri Lanka says 52 rebels, 11 soldiers killed in clash

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's military said 52 Tamil Tigers and 11 soldiers were killed in fresh fighting in the island's far north on Wednesday as renewed civil war escalates, but the rebels disputed the numbers.

The Tigers said 20 soldiers were killed and more than 100 were wounded in the clash on the Jaffna peninsula, and that just one of their fighters was killed. There were no independent accounts of what had happened or how many people were killed.

The fighting comes during almost daily clashes between the two sides, and also after an air strike last week killed the leader of the Tigers' political wing in a body blow to hopes of ending the two-decade conflict soon.

The military said fierce fighting erupted along a heavily defended border that separates government and rebel-held territory on the peninsula, and that troops held territory on the rebel side of the line for two hours.

"The troops went ahead and captured the terrorist line and in the fighting killed 52 terrorists and a large number of other LTTE cadres were injured in this firefight," said a spokesman at the Media Centre for National Security, declining to be named in line with policy.

"Eleven soldiers were killed and 41 were injured in the clashes."

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said the Tigers foiled a bid to overrun their bunkers on the Jaffna forward defence line.

"The Sri Lankan military came with the support of heavy artillery, multi-barrel rocket launchers, mortars and back-up fire from helicopters and tanks," Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone from rebel-held Kilinochchi.

"It was a wide-range attempt. It's from Kilali to Muhamalai on the A9 highway. The clash lasted about two hours, and they fell back to their original positions with heavy casualties," he added.

Analysts say both sides, locked in a bitter parallel propaganda war, tend to exaggerate enemy losses and play down their own.

Separately, a report on the Defence Ministry's Web site said security forces, responding to rebel attempts to infiltrate forward defence lines in the northern district of Vavuniya and neighbouring northwestern district of Mannar, had confronted Tiger fighters in five separate incidents in the past 24 hours.

The Web site cited military sources as saying eight rebels had been either killed or seriously wounded in the clashes.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa unveiled his budget for the coming year. Documents showed defence spending at 166.45 billion rupees ($1.5 billion), its highest ever.

The Tigers say they are fighting for an independent state for minority Tamils in the north and east of the island -- which Rajapaksa has ruled out of hand.

An estimated 5,000 people have been killed since early last year amid near-daily land and sea clashes, ambushes and air strikes. The death toll since the civil war erupted in 1983 stands at about 70,000.

Source: in.reuters.com