Sri Lanka says kills 48 rebels in fighting in north

COLOMBO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops backed by artillery fire killed 48 Tamil Tiger fighters in a series of battles in the north of the island, the military said on Tuesday, as it pressed on with attacks on rebel strongholds.

Ten soldiers were killed and more than 30 wounded in the fighting that erupted on Monday in the northern Jaffna peninsula and the districts of Vavuniya, Polonnaruwa and Mannar, a military spokesman said

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were not available for comment and analysts say both sides tend to inflate enemy casualty figures in the absence of independent accounts of the fighting.

"Forty-eight LTTE terrorists were killed and 28 wounded on Monday in day heavy confrontations," the spokesman said.

Fighting between the military and the LTTE rebels has intensified since the government scrapped a six-year ceasefire pact last month. The government says the rebels had used the truce to re-arm.

Buoyed by battlefield victories in the east, where it has captured swathes of rebel-held terrain, the government is now seeking to overrun the separatist Tigers' northern stronghold and has vowed to defeat them militarily.

But the Tigers continue to mount deadly suicide attacks and roadside bombings, which are increasingly scattered with some in the capital Colombo.

The military says it has killed more than 1,100 rebels since January and that 83 service personnel and 89 civilians have been killed during the same period. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)