Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said they killed 51 soldiers while repelling an army assault, a pro-rebel website reported on Saturday, in an account which the military rejected. The rebel claim comes as Sri Lanka's military, energised by two major strategic victories since the new year, is converging on the Tiger's final strongholds across a small wedge of north-eastern Sri Lanka, to finish a war that started in 1983.
With the rebels cornered in a fast-shrinking area with what aid groups say are about 230,000 civilians, the flood of refugees fleeing has increased. The military said 169 went to army-held areas on Friday, bringing the total this week to at least 2,200. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) media unit said the guerrillas fought back an advance on Dharmapuram village on Friday, killed 51 soldiers and wounded 150, the pro-rebel www.TamilNet.com web site reported.