COLOMBO (AFP) — Tiger rebels shelled a key base in northern Sri Lanka Tuesday, killing six soldiers and wounding 10, officials said, as the defence ministry said the rebels sustained heavy losses in new fighting.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attacked the Thallady military camp in the district of Mannar early Tuesday, drawing retaliatory fire from security forces, a military official said.
The defence ministry said that the Tigers had also hit a Catholic church while firing at the Thallady military camp on Tuesday morning. There was no immediate comment from the Tigers about the firing.
The shelling came as the defence ministry said 42 Tamil Tiger rebels and 11 soldiers were killed in new clashes across the island's embattled north on Monday.
The fighting in the Weli Oya area also left 35 security personnel and 21 rebels wounded, a defence official said.
According to the defence ministry, 1,168 rebels and 68 government soldiers and police have been killed so far this year.
Casualty figures given by the government cannot be independently verified as journalists and human rights workers are not allowed to enter the battle zone.
The Sri Lankan government last month officially pulled out of a defunct truce with the rebels, who have fought for more than three decades for an independent ethnic homeland in the Sinhalese-majority island.
The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
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