Troops fought a series of gunbattles with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels across Sri Lanka’s northern front lines, killing 13 guerrillas in recent days, the military said Saturday.
A group of Tamil Tigers attacked soldiers guarding the defense line early Saturday morning, an officer at the Defense Ministry’s media center said.
Soldiers repelled the attack and the ensuing gunbattle killed six insurgents, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Fighting has increased in recent weeks along the front lines that separate the Tamil Tigers’ de facto state in the north from government-held territory.
On Friday, army troops pushed into rebel territory across a defense line and destroyed a rebel bunker in the northern district of Vavuniya, just south of rebel-controlled territory, a defense ministry official said.
Six insurgents were killed in the battle, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Another rebel died in a clash also near the front lines elsewhere in the region. The official said soldiers suffered no casualties in either incident.
The military’s claim could not be verified because the area is restricted and rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not immediately be reached for comment.
Five months ago, the government announced it had cleared the Tigers from their other former stronghold in the east, though small pockets of resistance remain there.
The Tigers have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in the island country’s north and east after a history of discrimination by successive governments controlled by the majority ethnic Sinhalese.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict.