COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s military said yesterday that up to 16 Tamil Tiger guerrillas were killed in clashes yesterday in the north. The Media Centre for National Security said the military responding to Tamil Tiger artillery fire launched a counter-attack in the Vavuniya district and killed ten cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is fighting for a separate state in Sri Lanka’s north and east for the minority Tamils.In the northwestern Mannar area, the media centre said security forces killed four rebels in a confrontation while in Kilali closer to Jaffna, troops killed two Tigr guerrillas. The centre said that only three soldiers were injured in clashes yesterday.
There were no comments from the LTTE on the latest clashes. Casualty figures released by both sides cannot be independently verified.