By Xinhua
Colombo : At least 16 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and three government soldiers injured Saturday in clashes in northern Sri Lanka, the military said Sunday.
Four Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels were killed and many injured in a confrontation in the Kallikulam area of Mannar district, officials from the Media Centre for National Security said.
At least 10 LTTE rebels were killed and three soldiers injured in two battles Saturday morning in Vavuniya district.
The military also said two rebels were killed when the troops launched an attack against the LTTE in the Killali area in the northern Jaffna peninsula.
Clashes between the two sides have been concentrated in the north of the country after the military claimed in mid-July that the rebels had been totally cleared from the Eastern Province.
The LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east.