By SPA
Colombo, Sri Lanka : Government troops attacked separatist Tamil Tiger bunkers along the front lines in Sri Lanka’s embattled north, triggering gun battles that killed 34 rebels and one soldier, the military said Friday.
The soldiers destroyed three rebel bunkers in Thursday’s push in the Vavuniya region, just south of the rebels’ de facto state in the north, killing 20 guerrillas, a Defense Ministry official was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
The fighting left six soldiers wounded, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
Also Thursday, soldiers fired artillery rounds to destroy a rebel boat in the sea off the northern Jaffna peninsula, killing four rebels, he said. Separate clashes in the area left two other rebels dead.
In the northeastern Welioya region, soldiers fought separate gun battles with rebels, leaving four insurgents and one soldier dead, the official said. In nearby Mannar district, four rebels were killed.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not answer a telephone call seeking comment.