Lanka says 28 soldiers killed in new offensive

COLOMBO: Twenty eight Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in the latest round of fighting against Tamil Tiger rebels at the weekend, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

The weekend fighting in Jaffna occured mainly on Saturday as part of a government offensive against the rebels at three locations, and a defence ministry spokesman said the rebels had suffered even greater casualties.

"One officer and 27 soldiers were killed in the clashes," the spokesman said in the capital Colombo, adding that about 125 soldiers were wounded.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not comment and the figures could not be independently verified.

The rebels, who claim the Jaffna peninsula as a key part of their fight for a separate Tamil homeland on the island nation, offered stiff resistance using mortar bombs, the spokesman said.

A new wave of fighting erupted in Jaffna last month when the Tigers staged a major artillery and mortar bomb attack against military positions within the peninsula, but most of the battles died down after two weeks.

Security forces staged the latest action to strengthen defences and push back Tiger artillery that targets the main airbase in Jaffna, military sources said.

The fighting has also effectively cut off the only road access to the peninsula where about 8,000 civilians, including a large number of foreign nationals of Sri Lankan origin, are believed to be trapped.