By Xinhua,
Colombo : The military in Sri Lanka said Monday that 41 Tamil Tiger rebels and 10 soldiers were killed in several clashes in the northern Mannar district on Sunday.
The Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched heavy mortar fire around 1:40 p.m. (0810 GMT) on Army targets at the Nadunkandal area, killing one soldier.
The troops killed 11 LTTE rebels and forced the others to withdraw in an retaliatory attack, while four soldiers suffered injuries in the operation.
At around 5:45 p.m. (1215 GMT), the LTTE again made an attempt to capture the Nadunkandal army defense but failed in the face of army counter offensive.
During this incident which lasted for more than one hour 21 rebels were killed and 12 others suffered injuries. Also, five soldiers were killed in action and three suffered injuries.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident also on Sunday, Army troops attacked and captured an LTTE bunker defense line in the Karukkandal area around 6 a.m. (0030 GMT).
Seven rebels were killed in this incident while four soldiers were killed, three went on missing and four suffered injuries.
At the Alankulma area, the troops killed one rebel in a confrontation occurred around 2:20 p.m. (0850 GMT).
However, the LTTE said it thwarted a ground movement launched by the Army on Sunday in Mannar, killing at least 26 soldiers and injuring more than 50 others, while three LTTE members were killed.
There are no independent verifications to the conflicting claims as the battlefield is not accessible to the media and international organizations.
Having taken over control of the Eastern Province last July, Sri Lanka’s security forces are currently battling LTTE rebels in the north with an aim to crush them before the end of 2008.
The LTTE has been fighting the troops since the mid-1980s to carve out a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in the north and east, resulting in the death of more than 70,000 people.