Sri Lanka jets bomb rebels, fighting kills 54 in north

By Ranga Sirilal

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan fighter jets bombed rebel positions on Thursday while troops captured a rebel-held area, killing at least 25 militants, the military said.

The air raid on positions in the rebel-held districts of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi came two days after the government dismissed a declaration by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of a unilateral ceasefire from July 26 to August 4.

"Air force fighter jets attacked LTTE leaders gathering east of Thunukkai in Kilinochchi in the afternoon and a recruit training centre north of Oddusuddan in Mullaitivu this morning," said air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara.

"Pilots confirmed the targets were successfully engaged."

The military said ground troops had captured a rebel-held area in the island's northern district of Mullaitivu on Thursday.

"Army troops captured an area 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of Mallavi, killed 25 LTTE terrorists and captured some weapons," said a spokesman at Media Centre for National security.

He said the military had not suffered any casualties.

The military said fighting on Wednesday in four northern districts had also killed 25 rebels and injured 21 Tiger rebels.

The military also said four solders died in the fighting and 10 were wounded.

The fighting comes a week after the military's claim it had dealt a "fatal blow" to the Tamil Tiger rebels, with the capture of the northwestern town of Vidattaltivu, the main base of the Tigers' sea wing and their logistics hub for the region.

Sri Lanka's government is pursuing a strategy to gradually retake the Tiger's northern stronghold and win the 25-year civil war amidst an almost daily barrage of land, sea and air attacks in northern rebel-held territories.

An email statement from the Tamil Tigers early on Tuesday said the rebels would refrain from military action during the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference from July 26 to August 4.

But warned they would be forced to take "defensive action" if the military attacked them.

The government rejected the gesture.

Sri Lanka's 2002 Norwegian-backed ceasefire pact with the Tamil Tigers formally ended in January after the government decided to scrap it, arguing the rebels were using it to buy time to regroup and rearm.