COLOMBO - Security forces shot dead at least six Tamil Tiger rebels during a confrontation in Sri Lanka’s restive eastern province, officials said on Thursday. The troops and a group of fighters from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) clashed near Poonani on Wednesday night and security forces recovered the bodies of six Tigers, a military official in the area said.The commander of the army, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, said the military had captured two guerrilla defence lines inside their Vakarai stronghold, according to the state-run Dinamina newspaper. “The people will be liberated from the Tigers very soon and the Tigers will be driven out of the eastern province,” Fonseka said in an interview with the Sinhalese-language daily.