By DPA
Colombo : Tamil rebels claimed Sunday to have captured equipment belonging to the Sri Lankan military after an attack in the country's north.
The Sri Lankan military, however, denied the claim, saying instead that they forced the rebels to retreat with heavy casualties while three government soldiers were killed and 20 others injured.
Earlier Sunday troops shelled rebel-controlled areas in northern Sri Lanka after coming under heavy artillery fire at forward defence lines and a military base in Pampaimadu, 260 km north of the capital Colombo.
"Army troops have sledge hammered the main terrorist offensive line, leaving a large number of LTTE bodies scattered in the area. LTTE casualties are believed to be high with soaring death figures, according to intercepted enemy communications," Defence Ministry said in statement here.
Rebel military spokesman Rasiaha Illanthiriyan claimed on pro-rebel Tamilnet website that rebel fighters destroyed an army artillery launch pad, seized military hardware including armoured personnel carriers and forced the army to retreat.
The website claimed 20 government soldiers were killed and 40 injured.
There were no independent reports about the fighting, which is being reported in an area more than 30 km west of Vavuniya town, dominated by the Sri Lankan military and without public access.
Government troops have been trying to enter rebel-controlled areas in Vavuniya and adjoining Mannar district for several weeks, but rebel resistance has held, military sources said.
In a separate development the bullet riddled bodies of two local Red Cross workers abducted in Colombo were found in central Sri Lanka, police said Sunday.
The two persons were with four of their colleagues in the main railway station in Colombo when unidentified persons, who claimed to be from the police, abducted them. Their bodies were found in Kiriella, Ratnapura 100 kilometres south-east of the capital on Saturday, police said.
Police denied abducting the two Red Cross workers, but said they were investigating.
Fighting in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka has escalated during the past 18 months, leaving more than 4,200 dead and no immediate signs of a return to peace talks.
A Norwegian-backed ceasefire exists on paper, but both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government have conceded it to be non-operational, blaming each other for the failure to honour the truce signed in February 2002.