20 rebels killed, fighter jets target Sea Tigers` base: army

Colombo, Sept 26 (PTI) At least 20 L.T.T.E. cadres
were killed in fierce clashes in the restive northern Sri
Lanka where fighter jets attacked a Sea Tiger base in Jaffna
peninsula, the military said Friday.

Sri Lankan Air Force MI-24 helicopters attacked a Sea
Tiger gathering point in Pooneryn in Jaffna late Thursday
night, the defence ministry said.

Air force confirmed that the strike caused heavy
damages to the outfit, it said.

"Security forces personnel engaged in Wanni liberating
operation in Mullaittivu front are on the eve of another
significant victory against L.T.T.E. cadres as the troops of
57 Division advanced into the Kokkavil general area this
afternoon," the Defence Ministry said.

Reports of fighting have increased in recent months
amid government's declaration to crush the group by the end of
the year. Fighting, which has escalated in the past two years,
further flared after the government in January pulled out of
the 2002 cease-fire pact with the rebels.

According to the latest information received from the
front, the troops of 57 Division are in close vicinity to the
Kokkavil railway station complex, it said.

Elsewhere, troops killed four L.T.T.E. cadres during a
confrontation in Akkarayankulam in Kilinochchi Thursday, the
military said, adding two militants were killed earlier in the
area during an attack on the Tamil Tiger bunker in the area on
Thursday.

Separately, one rebel was shot dead in Akkarayankulam
in Kilinochchi Thursday, the Media Centre for National
Security (M.C.N.S.) said. It said troops captured two trench
lines in Kokkavil in Kilinochchi after heavy clashes Thursday.

At least four Tamil Tigers were killed during the
confrontation, Lankan military officials said, adding the
troops recovered the body of a female L.T.T.E. cadre along
with a T-56 assault rifle and two dog tags after the incident.

One rebel was killed during a confrontation in
Vedamakulam area in Vavuniya Thursday, the M.C.N.S. said. It
informed that another militant was shot dead in clashes with
security forces in Palamodei North in the region on Thursday.

At least one L.T.T.E. cadre was killed while two more
were wounded during two separate clashes in Koliyankulam area
in Vavuniya Thursday, it said.

In north-east Welioya, clashes in Andankulam area left
three L.T.T.E. cadres dead Thursday, the military said. Three
rebels were also gunned down in Kumalamonei in the region on
Thursday.

At least 17 L.T.T.E. cadres were wounded in fierce
clashes in Andankulam Thursday, the M.C.N.S. said adding the
troops recovered 117 anti-personnel mines from the area.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for an
independent state for the minority ethnic Tamils, alleging
marginalization of the community for decades by governments
dominated by the Sinhalese. At least 70,000 people have been
killed in the civil war in the Island nation.