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48 killed as heavy fighting grips Jaffna

AFP, Colombo
Fierce fighting erupted in northern Sri Lanka yesterday as government forces mounted a fresh push into territory held by Tiger rebels and said 48 people were killed in new clashes.
Security forces launched a predawn assault against a defence line of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LIT E) in the Jaffna peninsula and smashed at least two dozen guerrilla bunkers, the defence ministry sai d.
It said 15 rebels were killed and more than 30 wounded while the military suffered two soldiers dead and nine wounded.
"Troops launched a multipronged surprise assault at LITE
positions ahead of Nagarkovil defences (in Jaffna peninsula)... forcing terrorists to flee with soaring casualties," the defence ministry statement said.
However, the Tigers said they beat back the military offensive and pushed the security forces to their original positions.
The Tigers, in a statement pub-lished in the pro-rebel Puthinam.com website, said they killed three government soldiers and wounded more than a dozen during a 45-minute battle. The rebels said they did not suffer any losses.
Elsewhere, the rebels lost 31 cadres in fighting across Vavuniya, Mannar and Weli Oya, all in die northern area of the mainland, on
Sunday, the defence ministry said.
The Tigers placed their losses in the Mannar area at three killed on Sunday and said they had inflicted heavy casualties on government forces.
Since the start of this month, the Sri Lanka defence ministry has claimed it has killed 551 rebels against just 24 government soldiers dead.
Army chief Sarath Fonseka said at the beginning of the year that the' military planned to eliminate the estimated 3,000 cadres of the UT E in the first six months of the year, or 500 rebels a month.
The military's claims cannot be independently checked as no journalists or rights groups have access to the embattled areas.
The fighting came after the military accused the Tigers of killing at least 10 civilians late Thursday in the relatively calm south. A roadside bomb last Wednesday killed 27 bus passengers.
At least 46 civilians have been killed in rebel attacks since the start of January, according to military statements.
Sri Lanka formally ended a six-year peace truce with the Tamil Tiger rebels last week, accusing the guerrillas of using the Oslo-brokered pact to re-arm and strike military and civilian targets.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the LTTE launched a separatist campaign in 1972 to carve out an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east.