New Delhi: The Sri Lankan troops on Friday killed 33 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas and lost four of their men as renewed war spreads in northwestern and eastern part of the country.
At least 19 soldiers were also wounded in Friday's fighting which followed similar skirmishes in the same area where 11 Tigers were killed last evening, officials said.
Troops observed two motorcycles moving near the forward defence lines at Omanthai and opened fire on them on Wednesday, killing four people, the defence ministry said.
It said another seven rebels who arrived at the scene on a tractor were also shot dead by troops.
Further north in the Jaffna peninsula, troops shot dead two Tigers who tried to break into the military line at Nagarkovil, the ministry said.
On its part, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the military captured a village inside rebel-held territory and was holding 130 people hostage.
The Tigers said the military was firing at their positions using the civilians as a human shield, a charge denied by the military.
The army confirmed troops were trying to neutralise heavy rebel guns in northwestern Mannar district, but refused to say whether they had entered terrain the rebels control under the terms of a now-battered 2002 truce as the LTTE claims.
The latest fighting came a day after heavy clashes in the east of the island where 20 people were killed.
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