COLOMBO (AFP) — The Sri Lankan army said Tuesday it has killed 38 Tamil Tiger rebels involved in a fierce counter-attack in the island's war-torn north.
The defence ministry said its troops fought pitched battles and beat back rebel assaults along several fronts in the north on Monday. It said three government soldiers died in the fighting.
There was no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are battling a government push to dismantle their northern mini-state.
Having wrestled the east from the separatist ethnic rebels in July 2007, Sri Lanka now says it is just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from Kilinochchi, the LTTE's administrative hub.
Since pulling out of a Norwegian-backed truce in January, the defence ministry has reported it has killed 7,516 rebels against the loss of 742 soldiers. The figures cannot be independently verified.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) meanwhile said tens of thousands of people living in the northern rebel-held areas are on the run as troops advance towards Kilinochchi.
"Large numbers of people continue to flee the fighting eastwards, leaving Kilinochchi for Mullaittivu, often leaving their personal belongings behind," the ICRC said.
The United Nations estimates some 230,000 people have been displaced by the recent wave of fighting.
"Food, shelter, clean water, sanitation and, above all, security remain the most urgent concerns for the tens of thousands of displaced civilians living in LTTE-controlled areas in the north," said Anthony Dalziel, deputy head of the ICRC's delegation in Sri Lanka.
Last month the island's hawkish government, which accuses international aid groups including UN agencies of supporting the LTTE, ordered aid workers out of the north because it said it could not guarantee their safety.
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