Over 20 soldiers killed in northern Sri Lanka battle

At least 22 soldiers were killed and 113 others were injured Wednesday in a fierce battle in the northern Jaffna peninsula between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the government troops, defense officials said.

The Army denied rebels' accusations of advancing into their territory in Muhammalai, Kilali and Nagarkovil areas in the Jaffna district.

They claimed it was retaliatory action in the face of attacks from the rebels.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels said that at around 6.30 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) the troops breached the rebel forward defense lines and entered 100 to 200 meters in the rebel territory.

Military sources said the battles continued for over six hours with LTTE firing mortars and artillery fire at the advancing troops.

The Army kept firing multi-barrel rocket launcher fire assisted by air cover from the Air Force.

Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, the military spokesman, said that the 113 injured soldiers were air lifted to Colombo for treatment.

Rasiah Ilanthirayan, the LTTE's military spokesman, said the LTTE lost 10 of their fighters during the battle.

Ilanthirayan said they captured alive a soldier, who was admitted to a hospital in the territory controlled by the LTTE.

The clashes erupted a day after the LTTE had consented to the government proposal to have direct talks on Oct. 28 and 29 in Switzerland.

The Norwegian facilitators have appealed to both sides to give up violence and start the process of negotiations to end the island's long drawn out separatist armed conflict.

More than 64,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's separatist armed conflict between the mid-1980s and February 2002 when the ongoing Norwegian backed cease-fire came into effect.

Source: Xinhua