By Prensa Latina,
Colombo : The Sri Lankan Defense Ministry said Friday that at least, 69 Tamil separatists and government soldiers were killed during combats in the northern Sri Lanka.
A dispatch issued Friday said these confrontations occurred in the last 24 hours in the northern districts of Jaffna, Welioya, Vavuniya and Mannar, the objects of a military offensive since January this year.
The source said at least 32 rebels belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were killed, and another 37 were injured, while government lost two troops.
The fiercest battle took place in the district of Mannar, where government troops destroyed nine LTTE concrete shelters.
Since August 2006, the local army has killed 9,000 LTTE members, losing 1,700 soldiers in combat, according to Defense Ministry figures.
However, LTTE’s Tamilnet website fails to mention in its reports those confrontations in northern Jaffna and any official data on casualties among rebels and government troops in almost two years.
LTTE is an organization fighting since July 1983 for an independent state in the mainly Tamil northern and eastern Sri Lanka.