The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Colombo

Government troops Wednesday captured a strip of land from Tamil Tigers after heavy fighting across the island's north left 42 rebels and a soldier dead, the defence ministry said.

Security forces killed the guerrillas from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in separate clashes in the Mannar, Weli Oya and Jaffna district since Tuesday evening, the ministry said.

It said the air force carried out attacks against suspected Tamil Tiger targets on Tuesday, but did not give details of casualties or damage.

However, it said troops wrested control over an area known as Kallaiadanchan in the coastal Mannar district early Wednesday.

There was no immediate word from the Tigers.

In another development, two civilians were shot dead by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the Wilpattu wildlife park on Wednesday, the ministry said. The motive for the killing was not clear.

The latest casualty claims brings to at least 2,562 the number of rebels said to have been killed by security forces since January, according to defence ministry data.

The ministry has reported losing 152 of its soldiers in the same period.

Casualty figures given by both sides in the decades-old ethnic conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives cannot be independently confirmed as journalists and rights groups are barred from front-line areas.

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said Thursday they were resisting a major military thrust into rebel-held territory and claimed to have killed at least 25 government troops in two days of fighting.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they pushed back security forces from the Catholic pilgrim area of Madhu in the coastal district of Mannar where heavy fighting has raged in recent weeks.

"The Sri Lanka army adamantly initiated several clashes within 1,500 meters of the church premises," a statement said. "The LTTE defenders successfully repelled the Sri Lanka army offenders."

The separatists added that more than 90 soldiers had been wounded and placed their own losses at one killed and three hurt over the two days.

The LTTE statement came as the military said they killed 42 Tiger rebels for the loss of one soldier in the same area on Wednesday.

The latest defence ministry casualty claims bring to at least 2,562 the number of rebels said to have been killed by security forces since January. The ministry has reported losing 152 soldiers in the same period.

The figures given by both sides in the decades-old ethnic conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives cannot be independently confirmed as journalists and rights groups are barred from front-line areas.