Seven Tamil rebels killed in Sri Lanka

Navy and army troops clashed with Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka's volatile north-east, triggering battles that left at least seven insurgents dead in the latest fighting in the tropical island's deepening conflict.

Rebels fired on navy troops on a foot patrol in northern Kayts island, drawing retaliatory fire that left two rebels dead, said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe.

Army soldiers, meanwhile, killed five insurgents during clashes in eastern Batticaloa district near the rebels' Thoppigala base, Samarasinghe said.

Thoppigala is one of the guerrillas' last redoubts in the area, and has proven difficult for the government to conquer because of a huge rock formation that provides perfect cover for rebel fighters during combat.

Samarasinghe said soldiers recovered five bodies and automatic rifles, adding the rebel death toll could be higher.

Also yesterday, six rebels were killed during a second day of clashes between Sri Lankan forces and the Tigers in Madu village, about 135 miles north-west of the capital, Colombo, Samarasinghe said.

About 20 guerrillas were killed in two days of fighting in Madu area, he said, but Tiger spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said only two rebels died.

Samarasinghe said a government soldier was killed and six wounded in the fighting.

The Tigers have been fighting for more than two decades to establish a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils in the country's north and east, citing discrimination by the country's majority Sinhalese.

A 2002 ceasefire temporarily quelled the fighting, but violence has escalated in the past 18 months.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting since 1983.