By Xinhua
Colombo : More than 40 people, including 35 Tamil rebels and six government troops, were killed Monday morning in heavy clashes in the northern Mannar district of Sri Lanka.
According to the Media Centre for National Security, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels mounted the assault around 1 a.m. local time, but the troops drove the rebels away after heavy gun battle.
Twenty government troopers were injured in the fighting. The rebels apparently mounted the offensive to regain the Adampan area of the district they lost to the government forces in a weekend operation.
More than 30 rebels were injured in the battle, said the military.
Clashes between government troops and the LTTE have largely shifted to the north after the government said in July that the entire Eastern Province was free of rebels.