By Xinhua,
Colombo : The military in Sri Lanka said 19 bodies of Army soldiers killed by Tamil Tigers rebels were handed over to the Army through the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) officials on Wednesday in the north.
The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that Army authorities serving the Omanthai Entry/Exit received the partly disfigured and decomposed corpses of Army soldiers, which have been delivered to ICRC officials by the Tigers in the Mullaittivu district.
The statement said seven dead bodies have been so far identified as those of the Army soldiers who had gone missing in Nachchikuda area on Tuesday. The 12 remaining dead bodies are still to be identified.
This came after Army troops handed over 20 dead cadres of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to ICRC officials on Tuesday. Most of the 20 rebels were killed in Mallavi, Palamoddai and Welioya areas.
Meanwhile, the military said at least 27 LTTE rebels were killed and around 80 others injured in the rebel-controlled Wanni area on Wednesday as battles between the two sides continued.
At least 11 Army soldiers were also killed or reported missing while 32 soldiers were injured in these battles, said the military.
The LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to carve out an independent Tamil homeland for the island’s minority Tamils in the north and east, resulting in the killing of more than 70,000 people.
The military said battles in the Wanni front have reached a decisive stage as the LTTE is struggling desperately to save Kilinochchi, the administration center of the organization.