Sri Lankan troops have killed at least 29 Tamil Tiger rebels, taking the two-day death toll to 44 amid fresh fighting in the island’s north, the military said on Saturday. Friday’s fighting along a “border” that separates government from rebel territory in the north was the latest violence in a 25-year civil war analysts say neither side is winning. “Troops killed 29 LTTE terrorists in confrontations in Jaffna peninsula, Vavuniya and Mannar on Friday,” a military spokesman said, asking not to be named in line with policy.
The government is trying to drive the rebels from their northern stronghold and bring an end to the bloody civil war. But analysts say neither side is winning as the rebels repeatedly hit back with suicide and roadside bombings and air attacks. The military said on Friday it had captured a rebel-held area in the northwestern district of Mannar, killing 12 Tamil Tiger rebels. The military also said three soldiers had died and 15 were wounded in the fighting.
The rebels, who are fighting for a separate state in the Indian Ocean islandÂ’s north and east, were not immediately available for comment. There was no independent confirmation of what had happened or how many people were killed, and analysts say both sides exaggerate enemy casualty figures and play down their own. Fighting between the military and the rebels has intensified since the government scrapped a six-year ceasefire pact last month. It said the rebels were using the truce to re-arm. Thousands of people have been reported killed since last year as the truce crumbled and analysts expect the conflict to drag.
An estimated 70,000 people have died since the conflict began in 1983. Meanwhile, a minority Tamil businessman was shot dead as he came out of a church in Colombo on Friday night, police said, adding the motive for the murder had not been established.
The victim had been providing premises for minority Tamils affected by the fighting, officials said. The Sri Lankan government last month officially pulled out of a defunct truce with the rebels, who have fought for more than three decades for an independent ethnic homeland in the Sinhalese-majority island. The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives.