Sri Lankan troops killed 24 Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes in the north of the island while helicopter gunships bombed a rebel position today, the military said, as security was tightened ahead of a regional summit in the capital.
The leaders of eight South Asian countries are meeting in Colombo for an August 2nd-3rd summit that will discuss, among other issues, terrorism and food and energy security.
"Mi-24 helicopter gun ships attacked a Tamil Tiger position offering resistance to the ground troops in Mannar," said air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara. Mannar is in the northwest of the island where fighting has escalated in recent months.
The military said ground troops had also killed 24 Tamil Tiger rebels in day-earlier fighting. One solder died in the fighting.
The air raids on rebel position in Mannar and the fighting in the north came as the security in capital Colombo was beefed up for the South Asian Association of Regional Corporation (SAARC) summit from July 27 to August 3rd.
The SAARC groups the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Some 19,000 extra police and soldiers have been deployed in the capital for the meeting.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had declared a 10-day unilateral truce starting from July 26th as a goodwill gesture for a summit in Colombo but the announcement was dismissed by the government who said it had not received official notification and was sceptical about the declaration.
Sri Lanka's government is pursuing a strategy to gradually retake the Tiger's northern stronghold and win the 25-year civil war amidst an almost-daily barrage of land, sea and air attacks in northern rebel-held territories.
Analysts say the military has an advantage in the latest phase of the war given its superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east. But they still see no clear winner on the horizon.
The country's civil war has killed more than 70,000 people since it started. The LTTE, which the United States classifies as a terrorist group, is fighting to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils in north and east Sri Lanka since 1983.
Reuters