Heavy clashes as troops battle Tigers

Colombo: Sri Lankan troops are facing stiff resistance from Tamil Tiger rebels and heavy monsoon rains in their offensive to seize the rebels' de facto capital in the north, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.

Heavy clashes broke out Wednesday and soldiers managed to capture several rebel trenches and bunkers, the ministry said in a statement. It did not give casualty details.

In Vavuniya district, soldiers countered rebel gunfire Wednesday, killing one guerrilla, the ministry said.

Rebel officials could not be reached for comment because most communications to rebel-held territory are severed.

The ground fighting started as the rebels carried out a suicide attack on two cargo ships carrying food and other essential goods for villagers displaced by the conflict, the government said.

But the rebel-affiliated Puthinam website quoted unidentified rebel officials as saying the ships were transporting military equipment.

Navy spokesman D.K.P. Dassanayake said sailors fired at the rebel boats as they approached the cargo ships.

The navy destroyed two of the three boats and captured one, Dassanayake said.

Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for more than 25 years to create an independent state for Sri Lanka's ethnic minority Tamils, who have been marginalised by successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese.