The Sri Lanka army said it had mounted a fresh attack on Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the island on Saturday and overrun several bunkers but lost 11 men and had 53 wounded. At least four rebels were killed in the fighting.
At the same time, the government said there was no question of withdrawing from a key rebel stronghold it captured five days ago in the north-east of the country, despite Tiger threats of retaliation and even a return to full-scale war.
The army says the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) provoked the latest clashes by using mortars to shell its frontline positions in the Muhamalai area of the northern Jaffna peninsula on Friday.
Artillery and air strikes were used against the rebels before ground troops moved in, said army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "We have neutralised LTTE mortar locations which they were using against our forward defence lines," he said, describing it as a defensive operation.