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Tamil Tigers kill 22 soldiers

President votes to capture rebel headquarters by year-end

AFP, Colombo
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled out a ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers and said troops were on track to capture the rebels' political capital by the end of the year.
His comments came as the United Nations resumed evacuating staff and equipment from Kilinochchi on Tuesday following assurances from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LITE).
Meanwhile, pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website, said that LTTE fighters had again beaten back a government assault in Kilinochchi district on Monday, killing 22 soldier&and wounding 53.
Tamil Tiger rebels set off a powerful bomb inside a public bus in the Sri Lankan capital yesterday, after Sri Lanka's president said his
troops are on track to capture the rebel's northern capital.
Four people were slightly hurt in the bombing and casualties were low because passengers had spotted a suspicious parcel and evacuated shortly before the explosion, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told AFP.
The force of the explosion shook buildings in the city centre, where security is tight because of fears of attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"No doubt this explosion marks another LTTE attempt to cause mayhem in the island's capital, targeting innocent civilians, when it is facing fierce assaults by the security forces," the defence ministry said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment on the attack from the LTTE, blamed for a string of bomb attacks
against public transport in recent months and currently on the defensive in the north.
The bombing came as the island's government, which pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels in January, said it was on track to capture the rebels' political capital Kilinochchi by the end of the year.
Speaking to reporters late Monday, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse ruled out a new ceasefire and said troops were advancing "very satisfactorily."
"1 am happy. The military has made a lot of gains," he told mem-bers of the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka.
"We will hopefully take Kilinochchi by December. The rest (of the north) as soon as possible I
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can't give an exact time frame," he said.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website, however, said Tuesday that LITE fighters had again beaten back a government assault in Kilinochcni district on Monday, killing 22 soldiers and wounding 53.
However, the ministry said 18 rebels and three soldiers were killed on Monday, during fierce gun battles in the north.