Sri Lankan air force jets killed eight Tamil Tiger fighters and injured several more in a fourth day of aerial bombings on Saturday in a bid to wrest control of a reservoir in the restive east, the rebels said.
Kfir fighter planes raided the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee in an operation to clear access to a sluice gate, which the government accuses the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of blocking to choke water supplies to farmers on government land.
Military officials said the air force had destroyed a rebel base in Batticaloa and believed the death toll was far higher, but the Tigers said their fighters were killed on their forward defence line with government territory.
The rebels vowed to hit back. "We can't continue to maintain our patience," said S. Elilan, head of the Tigers' political wing in Trincomalee. "We will definitely retaliate ... This is causing a war-like situation."