By DPA
Colombo : Three Sri Lankan soldiers were killed when Tamil rebels ambushed a patrol in northern Sri Lanka Wednesday, a military spokesman said.
The troops were clearing a key road in Chinnacippikulam, 240 km north of the capital, when they were attacked and three soldiers were killed, the spokesman said.
The troops fought back, inflicting casualties on the rebels, said the military official without providing further details.
Fighting has escalated in the past three months in the north, claiming more than 700 lives, while the death toll in the last two years now exceeds 5,600.
More than 70,000 have been killed since the Tamil rebels started fighting in 1983 for an independent homeland for minority Tamils.
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