E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

16 rebels killed in northern Sri Lanka
(Xinhua) -- At least 16 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and three government soldiers were slightly injured on Monday in separate clashes in northern Sri Lanka, said the military. Officials from the Media Center for National Security said four members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in a confrontation around 8:30 a.m. (0300 GMT) in the Navatkulam area of the Vavuniya district.

In the Mullaitivu district, at least nine LTTE rebels were killed in two confrontations with government troops at noontime. Three soldiers sustained minor injuries in the two battles. Meanwhile, three LTTE rebels were killed in clashes with the Army in Muhamalai of the Jaffna peninsula at about 6:55 p.m. Clashes between the two sides began to focus in the north after the military claimed in mid-July that the rebels had been totally cleared from the Eastern Province.

The government said about 10 LTTE rebels were killed each day in northern battlefield recently. 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. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the new wave of violence since the end of 2005, making the Norwegian brokered ceasefire agreement exist only on paper.
Posted by: Fred 2007-12-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=212525