By Xinhua
Colombo : Fourteen Tamil Tiger guerrillas were killed and 15 soldiers injured in separate clashes in northern Sri Lanka Thursday, officials from the defence ministry said.
The officials said that eight fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed when they tried to attack the Forward Defence Line at Muhamalai in Jaffna peninsula around 3 a.m. Thursday.
Five soldiers were injured in the battle that lasted more than one hour.
Another six rebels were killed in a confrontation with the troops in the area of Giant’s Tank in the northwestern district of Mannar, the officials said, adding ten soldiers were injured in the incident.
Clashes between the LTTE and government troops have been occurring frequently in northern Sri Lanka since mid-September.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in violence sine the end of 2005.