Tigers kill 43 Sri Lankan soldiers in fierce clash

Colombo: Tamil Tiger rebels killed 43 Sri Lankan soldiers in a fierce clash in the island's north, halting the government's march toward a strategic crossroads, a pro-rebel Web site reported.

The head of the government's security information center, Lakshman Hulugalle, declined to comment on the report by the TamilNet Web site, saying the government would not respond to accounts by rebel supporters.

TamilNet quoted unidentified rebel officials as saying the clash occurred in Nalloor village in rebel-held Kilinochchi district. The rebels took away the bodies of eight soldiers, it said.

It said the goal of the soldiers had been to march from Pooneryn, a recently seized former rebel stronghold, toward a key junction nearby to establish a new front to capture the rebel headquarters in Kilinochchi town.

Other groups of soldiers have been trying for weeks to reach Kilinochchi from the west and south. Some met with heavy rebel resistance Sunday, sparking clashes in which a few soldiers went missing, the military said in a statement
Monday.

The rebels suffered heavy casualties, it said, without giving details.

Both sides routinely inflate the number of casualties they inflict on their opponents, and it is not possible to verify battlefield reports because most journalists are barred from the war zone.

The government has vowed to crush the rebels and end their decades-old separatist campaign. Government soldiers in recent months have captured a number of key rebel bases and large swaths of land previously controlled by the
guerrillas, seizing the country's entire west and forcing the insurgents into a shrinking territory in the northeast.

However, the rebels have offered stiff resistance as the soldiers approach Kilinochchi.

The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils who have suffered marginalization by successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese.

More than 700,000 people have been killed in the violence.