COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Government forces killed 14 Tamil Tiger rebels in a series of attacks against the separatist group across northern Sri Lanka, the military announced on Friday. The fighting, part of an escalation in violence between the two sides in recent months, came amid a security clampdown on the capital, Colombo, following a pair of rebel bombings that killed 20 people.The military released security camera footage Friday showing one of the attacks, a suicide bombing at the Colombo offices of a Cabinet minister that killed one person as well as the bomber. In the footage, the female bomber is seen patiently sitting in a chair on the other side of an officialÂ’s desk in what appears to be a waiting room as people mill about around her. The bustle of the office quickly turns into a chaotic dash for safety when the woman detonates the bomb, which police say was hidden in her bra.
The bombings demonstrate how the rebels were suffering under a government offensive against their stronghold in northern Sri Lanka, security officials said. “They were desperate and unable to face the security forces in the north,” military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.
On Thursday, troops killed four guerrilla fighters in a battle near the rebelsÂ’ stronghold in northern Sri Lanka, the military said Friday. Four others were killed in two separate battles in the region.
Soldiers killed six other rebels, also on Thursday, in three separate clashes in the Vavuniya district, just south of rebel-controlled territory, the military said in a statement.