The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lankan security forces killed at least 44 Tamil Tiger rebels for the loss of two of their own soldiers in fresh ground battles in the island's embattled north, the defence ministry said Saturday.

The rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in separate clashes on Friday in the northern district of Vavuniya and Mannar, the ministry said, adding that at least 30 rebels were also wounded.

The ministry said 25 bodies of Tiger fighters killed in previous fighting was returned to the rebels on Friday through the Red Cross.

"Advancing army battle formations have inflicted decisive blows on the LTTE during multi-pronged attacks," the ministry said.

In the latest fighting, army troops took control of Andankulam town in Mannar district after a battle that killed 28 rebels and one soldier Friday, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara.

The town's capture came a day after the troops seized a key supply base in Vavuniya district that had been used to replenish the Tamil Tigers' front-line troops.

Nanayakkara said the capture of the base and town were strategically important for government troops to gain control of rebels' northern strongholds.

Other battles on Friday killed 12 rebels and one soldier in the Welioya region, while in the northern Jaffna peninsula a soldier died in a roadside bomb blast blamed on rebels, Nanayakkara said.

The military says fighting over the past week has killed 220 rebels and 22 soldiers. Analysts accuse both sides of exaggerating enemy losses and underreporting their own casualties.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not immediately available for comment.

It was not possible to independently verify the military's claims because journalists are banned from the northern jungles where much of the fighting takes place.

The Tamil Tiger rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils, who have been marginalized by successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

The government vows to capture rebel-held territory and to crush the insurgents by 2009 but diplomats and other observers say the army has faced more resistance than expected.

There was no immediate word from the Tigers on the latest fighting.

The defence ministry claims raise the number of rebels reported killed by government troops since the beginning of the year to 4,545, against the loss of 416 soldiers.

Government figures cannot be independently verified as journalists are barred from visiting frontline areas.