By Prensa Latina,
Colombo : At least 12 Tamil rebels and three government soldiers died in clashes in northern Sri Lanka, military sources in this capital reported on Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the army launched a counterattack in Palampiddi area, about 205 miles north of Colombo, on Monday, in response to a Tamil rebels attack to a military defense line.
The military report says that at least 15 soldiers and over 50 rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam died on Sunday during an army advance to conquer Palampiddi.
However, the Tamilnet webpage announced that 26 soldiers lost their lives in those combats and another six bodies were found.
The LTTE have been fighting since July 1983 for the independence of north and east Sri Lanka.