Sri Lanka says weekend death toll hits 79, most rebels

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops killed 36 Tamil Tigers in the island's north, taking the death toll from fierce fighting at the weekend to 79, most of them rebels, the military said on Monday.

Weekend clashes on the Jaffna peninsula, the northern districts of Vavuniya and Polonnaruwa and the northwestern district of Mannar killed 75 rebels and four soldiers, the military said.

"Troops killed 36 LTTE terrorists in confrontations on Sunday, three soldiers also died from the confrontations," said military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who seek to carve out an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka, were not immediately available for comment.

Pro-rebel Web site www.tamilnet.com said the fighting in Mannar on Sunday killed 15 Sri Lankan soldiers and wounded more than 30. The Web site gave no details of rebel casualties.

"Liberation Tigers Operations Command in Mannaar claimed Sunday that at least 15 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and more than 30 SLA troopers wounded," the Web site said.

The military denied rebel claim and said no one killed or injured on Sunday from fighting in Mannar on Sunday.

There were no independent accounts of how many people had been killed or what had happened. Analysts say both sides tend to overstate enemy losses and play down their own.

The government has vowed to wipe out the Tigers militarily, setting the stage for what many fear would be a bloody battle for the north.

While the government has had the upper hand in recent months, killing senior rebel figures including the Tigers' political wing leader and military intelligence chief, military analysts say the rebels have retained their strike capability and see no clear winner on the horizon.

The Sri Lankan government scrapped the 2002 truce on January 16, saying the rebels had used it to regroup and re-arm.

Nordic truce monitors, however, accused both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army of violating the truce.

About 70,000 people have been killed since the war erupted in 1983.

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Bill Tarrant)