Colombo, Sep 27 (Xinhua) Two civilians were killed and fifteen, including two policemen, injured in an explosion Thursday, as troops gunned down 17 guerrillas in Jaffna, defence officials said.
Suspected rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) triggered a roadside bomb targeting a police road patrol vehicle at Chunnakam in Jaffna around 10.30 a.m.
Elsewhere in the Jaffna peninsula some six LTTE members were killed at Eluthumattuval at 5.30 a.m., while some eleven members of the rebel group were killed at Pokkaravani in Vavuniya district and Muhamalai in the Jaffna district Wednesday evening, officials said.
They said some 20 people had died during the 24 hours of fighting that ended at 10.30 a.m. Thursday.
There has been a marked increase of clashes between the troops and the rebels in the last few weeks.
The violence is now focussed in the north after the government in mid July claimed that the rebels had been totally evicted from the eastern province.
The LTTE rebels claim a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the combined north and east provinces which they claim as the traditional homeland of the minority Tamil community.
Over 70,000 people have died in the conflict since the mid 1980s.