Fresh fighting in Sri Lanka's far north killed 34 Tamil Tiger rebels and nine solders, the military said today, as government forces continued their push against the rebels' northern stronghold.
The fighting came days after the military said it had entered the rebels' de facto capital in the north, amid a daily attacks on northern rebel-held territories.
The Tigers are fighting for an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka for ethnic Tamils, a minority in the predominantly Sinhalese country.
The fighting came as regional leaders signed a cooperation pact in Colombo on Sunday aimed at combating terrorism, concluding the 15th summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Corporation (SAARC).
SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Some 19,000 extra police and soldiers were deployed in the capital for the meeting.
The Tamil Tigers had declared a 10-day unilateral truce starting from July 26th as a goodwill gesture for the summit, but the government dismissed it, saying no official notification was received and it was sceptical about the declaration.
Sri Lanka's government is pursuing a strategy aimed at gradually retaking the Tiger's northern stronghold and winning the 25-year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people.
Analysts say the military has an advantage in the latest phase of the war given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain already captured in the island's east. But they still see no clear winner soon.
Reuters