Sri Lanka says fighting kills 32 rebels, 2 soldiers
COLOMBO, July 4 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops killed 32 Tamil Tigers in the island's far north while four soldiers died or are missing, the military said on Friday, as the government pursues its strategy to gradually retake the rebels' northern stronghold.
Fighting between Sri Lanka's armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has intensified since the government formally pulled out of a 6-year-old ceasefire pact in January, although the truce had been breaking down on the ground since 2006.
"Troops killed 32 LTTE terrorists and injured 37 in Thursday's fighting. Two soldiers died, two are missing and 15 were injured from the fighting," said a military spokesman at the Media Centre for National Security.
The air force said fighter jets and helicopter gunships had attacked seven rebel positions in the north since Monday. Since Saturday, 168 rebels and 12 soldiers have been killed in fighting, the military said.
The LTTE, fighting to create an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka for ethnic Tamils, a minority in the predominantly Sinhalese country, were not immediately available for comment.
Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of the long-running war given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east, though they still see no clear winner on the horizon.
An estimated 70,000 people have died since the civil war began in 1983.
The Tigers regularly retaliate with suicide attacks increasingly targeting civilians and roadside bombs, experts and the military say, deterring some tourists and worrying investors in the $27 billion economy. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Alex Richardson)
