By Xinhua,
Colombo : Some 200 soldiers were killed and 997 others were injured during fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels inthe north in September, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said on Tuesday.
Speaking at parliament, Ratnasiri Wickramanayake also said 13 civilians were killed and 25 more were injured in the conflicts during September.
Government troops fighting Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in the north were nearing the completion of their battle to eliminate the rebels from their last two strongholds in the Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts, officials claimed.
Meanwhile, the Air Force spokesman Janaka Nanayakkara said thatan air raid was carried out Tuesday morning on a rebel mortar position in the north.
The MI24 helicopter bombing was supplementary to the operationscarried out by the ground troops in the Kilinochchi district.
The defense officials also said some 31 rebels were killed in fighting on Monday in the Jaffna peninsula, the Vavuniya and Kilinochchi regions.
Five soldiers were also killed while 12 others were injured in the battles.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of Sinhalese dominated governments, the LTTE has been fighting to set up an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east, resulting in the killing of more than 70,000 people.
The government abrogated a six-year ceasefire agreement in January this year, paving the way for an all-out war with the LTTE.