The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Colombo

A wave of battles across the front lines in Sri Lanka's 25-year-old civil war killed 14 ethnic Tamil rebels and two government soldiers, the military said Thursday.

Government jets hit a series of Tamil Tiger targets in the Mullaittivu region early Thursday in support of troops fighting on the ground, the military said in a statement.

Fighting has escalated in recent weeks, with the military capturing a series of rebel bases and large chunks of territory, and government officials reiterating their pledge to crush the rebel group by the end of the year. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that tens of thousands of people were displaced by recent fighting, most of them heading deeper into rebel-held territory.