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44 Tamil Tigers killed in Lankan fighting

AFP, AP, Colombo
Sri Lankan security’ forces killed at least 44 Tamil Tiger rebels for the loss of two of their own soldiers in fresh ground battles in the island’s embattled north, the defence ministry said Saturday.
The rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in separate clashes on Friday in the northern district ofVavuniya and Mannar, the ministry said, adding that at least 30 rebels were also wounded.
The ministry said 25 bodies of Tiger fighters killed in previous fighting was returned to the rebels on Friday titrough the Red Cross.
"Advancing army battle formations have inflicted decisive blows on the LTTE during multi-pronged attacks,' the ministry'said.
In the latest fighting, army troops took control of Parappakadattan village in Mannar district on Saturday, said military' spokesman Brig. Uda ya Nanayakkara.
He said guerrillas had almost vacated the area when army troops advanced into the village, where rebels had maintained a training base and office complex.
On Friday, troops captured Andankulam town in Mannar after a battle that killed 28 rebels and one soldier, the military said. On Thursday, troops seized a key supply base in Vavuniya district that had been used to replenish the
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Tamil Tigers' front-line troops, it said.
Nanayakkara said the capture of those rebel held areas was strategically important for government troops to gain control of the rebels' northern strongholds.
Other battles Friday killed 12 rebels and one soldier in the Welioya region, while in the northern Jaffna peninsula, a soldier died in a roadside bomb blast blamed on the rebels, Nanayakkara said.
There was no immediate word from the ligers on the latest fighting.
The military says fighting over the past week has killed 220 rebels and 22 soldiers. Analysts accuse both sides of exaggerating their enemy's losses and underreporting their own casualties.
Ilie defence ministry claims raise the number of rebels reported killed by government troops since the beginning of the year to 4,545, against the loss of 416 soldiers.
It was not possible to independently verify the military's claims because journalists are banned from the northern jungles where much of the fighting takes place.