A suicide car bomber killed two Danish and one Czech NATO soldiers, an interpreter and three civilians in southern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.
The Taliban have threatened to step up their campaign of suicide attacks this year to wear down Afghan and Western public support for the presence of foreign troops in the country.
The bomber attacked a convoy from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) near the village of Girishk in the southern province of Helmand, an ISAF spokesman said.
"Three ISAF soldiers, one ISAF interpreter and three Afghan civilians were killed by the blast," said spokesman Captain Mark Gough. "Four ISAF soldiers and approximately six Afghan civilians were wounded." Two Danish soldiers were killed and one was wounded in the attack, the Danish Army Central Command said. The troops were working on a reconstruction project when they were attacked. The third dead soldier was Czech, as were two of the wounded, the Czech Defence Ministry said.
Most foreign troops in Helmand are British, but another military spokesman said no British soldiers were there at the time. U.S. and Estonian troops are also in Helmand.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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The Taliban claim they have brought down a helicopter belonging to US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar. Taliban spokesman Zabihollah Mojahid told a Press TV correspondent on Monday that the helicopter went down near the town of Sarkaneh, adding that all the passengers on board had been killed.
Mojahid also said Taliban insurgents attacked a coalition tank in Hossein Khail region in Paktia province on Monday morning. Nine US troops were killed in the attack. There was no immediate confirmation from coalition forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
I think someone should keep an eye on this "Press TV correspondent" (just to make sure he stays safe, of course). A gps locater, cell & landline tap, with a few microphones and recorders just to fill out the inventory.
#5
They don't have any video, only a still picture of a helicopter. There's nothing verifiable here. What makes the report even more suspect is the Taliban tendency to avoid US-led coalition forces and to go after school girls instead just to prove how brave they are.
Gun battles between clan militias killed at least 10 people in central Somalia on Monday, local elders and hospital staff said. Disputes flare sporadically between clans in the Horn of Africa nation. Some clans support Islamist insurgents against the Ethiopian-backed government.
One local leader, Ali Diriye, said eight fighters and two civilians died as the forces clashed over disputed land near Galkayo, a town north of the capital Mogadishu. "Both clans collected their dead and wounded and we're mediating between the two sides," he told Reuters by telephone.
A nurse at Galkayo hospital, Mohamed Ali, confirmed at least 10 deaths. He said 14 wounded had been brought to the hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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A grenade attack on a local official in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu has killed five people and seriously wounded four others, reports say. A group of gunmen attacked the chairman of Hamar Jajab District with more than 11 hand grenades during which nine civilians were critically injured, Press TV correspondent said adding five of the victims died later. Although the official survived the attack, he said he is going to step down in the next couple of hours.
Meanwhile, insurgents shot dead former chairman of Balet Weyne, Ahmed Gobey Awale, and two others as they were en route from Hiiran to Mataban, in Gal Gaduud region.
In another development, the head of security forces in Afgoye resigned while still getting treatment in hospital due to injuries he sustained in an insurgent assault. He noted the he had resigned since he did not want to get killed. The official also criticized the government's negligence towards his desperate situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
Gunmen kill a police official and several others in Afgoye town in Somalia, in a recent spate of violence against the nation's officials. A group of 8 insurgents armed with pistols killed the deputy police commander Abdull Khadir Jabra in Somalia's town of Afgoye on the spot. Shortly afterwards, they fled the area, Press TV correspondent reported. All the soldiers and officers at the scene were also shot dead, the report said.
Meanwhile, the local residents are fleeing the area amid fears that the death of the high-profile police officer may trigger the influx of Ethiopian troops into the area. Once in the area, Ethiopian troops will arrest innocent people or slaughter them.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
Two Algerian soldiers have been killed and 17 wounded in a clash with Islamist rebels east of Algiers, a security source said on Monday. It was the first reported death of security force members in Algerian political violence for more than a month. Gunmen opened fire at an army patrol conducting a search on Sunday near the Mediterranean coastal town of Jijel 300 km (190 miles), from the capital, following reports that rebels were planning a suicide attack on a naval base in the area, the source said. The gunmen were believed to belong to the al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), the source said. On Feb. 7 suspected Islamist rebels killed eight paramilitary gendarmes in an ambush some 500 km (300 miles) southeast of Algiers. Violence broke out in Algeria in 1992 after the military-backed authorities scrapped a parliamentary election that an Islamist political party was set to win. Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing bloodshed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, closed Tuesday after three mortar rounds detonated near the embassy compound, according to an embassy statement. No embassy personnel were injured in the incident, which happened around 12:40 p.m. local time, it said.
"There are reports of injuries at a girls school in the neighborhood and to Yemeni security personnel stationed around the embassy's perimeter," the statement said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families."
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2008 09:37 ||
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#1
Time to rethink even having an embassy in Yemen. It's not as if they are real friends. If I remember correctly they seem to have problems keeping terrorists in custody and all that.
#2
Keep the embassies, but let's also start keeping a tote board on violence in these places and cut any $ we're sending their way accordingly. Let's set a price list: -$1 million for any bomb blast near our embassy, -$10 million for even a scratch on an American diplomatic person or dependent. Cumulative...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/18/2008 17:44 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Close embassies and thus any chance of visa's and visits to the US as well as a natural limitation on trade that would follow. It's an easier, speak softly, way of pressuring nations that just don't want to be friendly or help out against enemies in their midst.
Three Turkish citizens are arrested on suspicion of fundraising for and membership in the Kurdish group, PKK, German prosecutors say. The three Turkish citizens ranging in age from 26 to 50 years old were picked up last Wednesday after a court issued arrest warrants, public prosecutor Horst Hund in the western city of Koblenz said in a statement.
They are believed to have acted on behalf of the PKK in Bonn and Koblenz since 2007, AFP reported. "In that time the accused were responsible for distributing propaganda and organizing and holding political events," Hund said. "The accused are in particular strongly suspected of having directed funds that they collected from private Kurdish citizens and business people in the Bonn and Koblenz regions to chapters of the PKK."
Hund said it was in the course of the fundraising drive the three tried to extort money from the Kurdish owner of a snack shop and attacked him when he refused to pay. The suspects have been charged with belonging to a criminal organization and attempted extortion by force. They have denied the accusations.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Inspector General of Police (IGP), Punjab, Syed Azhar Nadeem said on Monday that police had arrested suspects in six of the eight suicide bomb attacks in Rawalpindi.
Speaking at a press briefing, the IGP said the police had yet to investigate two suicide attacks including February 25 attack in which Lt Gen Mushtaq Ahmad and six others were killed. Nadeem said police had also investigated December 27, 2007 suicide-bomb attack in which Benazir Bhutto was killed. Police had also chalked out a strategy to arrest absconders like Baitullah Mehsood, he said avoiding sharing details of the strategy with reporters. He asked the people to cooperate with police in overcoming acts of terrorism in the city. People should inform police if they found unattended things, deserted vehicles and suspicious persons around them, he added.
The IGP said police and other law-enforcement agencies were collectively fighting against terrorism. As far as the intelligence reports were concerned, he said police had been receiving positive response from the intelligence agencies.
The Punjab government has upgraded the department of police and its other branches to cope with the situation, the IGP said, adding the police were utilising all available resources to maintain law and order in the city. Nadeem said the police force had been directed to keep a close eye on the anti-social elements to avoid any untoward incident. He urged media men to cooperate with police in war against terrorism.
The IGP did not rule out possibility of foreign hand in the current wave terrorist attacks on law-enforcement agencies. He said organised networks were working behind the increasing activities of terrorists in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Two security personnel were killed when their road-clearing vehicle hit a landmine in the Telawagh area of Dera Bugti on Monday. A Frontier Constabulary (FC) official said that security personnel were clearing a road when their vehicle hit a landmine, killing Gul Zaman and Abdul Rauf. Police have registered a case.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Taliban militants blew up four Khasadar Force checkposts and a female vocational centre in Mohmand Agency on Monday. No loss of life was reported in the incidents. After a lull in violence that lasted about a week, the militants blew up checkposts in Atta Bazar, Mohammad Kor, Ashraf Abad and Kadakhel, and the female vocational centre in the Ghalanai Bazaar. The Taliban did, however, have the Khasadar checkposts vacated before blowing them up.
Released: Meanwhile, a tribal jirga and the political administration succeeded in negotiating the release of 22 tribesmen in Kurram Agency. An official also announced that the Thall-Parachinar Road, which been closed off to all traffic after the incident, would be re-opened on Tuesday. According to the political administration, unknown gunmen kidnapped four people and a vehicle belonging to the Mali Khel tribe in the Mamoom area of Hangu district 12 days ago. The Turi tribe had, in retaliation, kidnapped 18 of the Mali Khel tribesmen.
After continuous efforts by the tribal jirga and the political administration, both sides agreed to the unconditional release of the hostages. The exchange took place in the Baliman area of Lower Kurram Agency, the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
How about blowing up a few mosques and madrassas in response?
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2008 0:16 Comments ||
Top||
A police officer and a head constable were killed and seven others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside Sind Police Lines in Swat on Monday. Station House Officer (SHO) Tor Gul and Head Constable Anayatur Rehmand were killed, and Aziz, Liaqat, Nisar, Jannat Gul, Sardar Bahadar, Ali Murad, and Shamsul Qamar injured, in the blast. The condition of the two of the injured was serious, hospital sources told Daily Times.
Witnesses said that a teenager wearing police uniform had told police guards at the police lines that he wanted to meet Anayatur Rehman. He was allowed entry, but the head constable didnt recognise him. The boy detonated himself when Tor Gul and Anayat Rehman grew suspicious and rushed to arrest him.
Policemen at the site said they feared that the number of dead might go up, as rescuers were searching the debris of the two rooms destroyed in the explosion. State-run Pakistan TV, however, reported that three police officers were killed and five wounded. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing casualty tolls.
Arrest: Separately, law-enforcement agencies arrested two suspected militants in Khwazakhela, Swat, and took them to an undisclosed location, the APP news agency quoted police sources as saying on Monday. The arrests were made on a tip-off. Those arrested could not be identified immediately. Meanwhile, the curfew was relaxed from 6am to 8pm on Monday. The law and order situation in Swat remained normal, as people were seen shopping in markets. Police and Frontier Constabulary officials staged a flag march through various valley roads.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- A top insurgent of outlawed rebel group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was Monday killed in an encounter with the Army in India's Northeastern state of Assam. Kanak Chetia, an explosive expert of ULFA's "28th batallion", was killed in an encounter at Dirakbokhai village in Assam's Tinsukia district, news agency Press Trust of India reported quoting, a state government official. A Chinese pistol along with huge amount of explosives were recovered from the slain insurgent, the news agency said.
The ULFA is waging an insurgency since 1979 to create a "sovereign Assam " carved out of India . Most of its top leadership is reported to be based in neighbouring Bangladesh and operating from there. The group has been alleged of maintaining links with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence. Leading US think tank Stratfor last year in a report -- India: ULFA Abandons Peace Talks -- had said that ULFA was keen to work with groups like Bangladesh-based Harkt ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI) in India's Northeast and has begun to outsource terror operations. The HuJI leadership has recently confessed to Bangladeshi authorities of supplying grenades to Lashkar-e-Toiba group for terror attacks in India over the past few years.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Ten Iraqis were injured in different incidents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, while Iraqi police found five bodies in Mosul and Kirkuk, according to the Iraqi police. A police source in Mosul told KUNA a booby-trapped car exploded near a police car injuring six people including a police officer. Four civilians were injured when five mortar shells hit different parts of Mosul, he added. The source, meanwhile, said the Iraqi police found two bodies with their heads chopped off, while three bodies of the Sahwa (Awakening) council forces were found southern Kirkuk.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Five persons were killed and 12 others injured when mortar shells hit a football play ground in eastern Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi security sources said. The sources, requesting anonymity, told KUNA the mortar shells landed at a play ground grouping youths playing football killing three youths and two boys, as well as wounding 12 others. Eyewitnesses said the injured were rushed to Ibn Al-Nafees hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
Two people were killed and eight others wounded in two separate terrorist insurgent attacks in this southern province of Thailand on Monday.
Two men were shot dead while travelling by a pickup truck on a road in Raman district. An unknown number of gunmen followed the victims in another pickup truck and opened fire on them.
In a separate attack on the same day, eight people including a soldier were wounded in a bomb blast in Yalas Bannang Sata district. The bomb was hidden in a motorcycle parked near a market.
Meanwhile, Amnat Sarae, a chef at CS Pattani Hotel who was seriously injured in Saturday night's bomb explosion, was pronounced dead on Sunday, bringing the death toll from the incident to two. Twelve people were injured, two of them seriously. In the Saturday incident, a man was killed after two bomb explosions rocked the CS Pattani Hotel. The hotel owner, concurrently a senator, was among the injured.
Two men were wounded in a bomb blast at a mosque in this southern border province of Yala Tuesday morning. Early on Tuesday a pick-up truck stopped outside the mosque and an unidentiified assailant was seen throwing the bomb into the mosque, wounding the two men.
Meanwhile, in Pattani, the police inspected a tea shop attacked by terrorists insurgents on Monday night. The bomb was hidden under a bench and was remotely detonated by a mobile phone. Two persons were wounded in the bombing and were sent to hospital.
Meanwhile, in Narathiwat a suspected terrorist insurgent was shot dead and another was detained for questioning during a raid in Narathiwat on Tuesday. Soldiers scoured an area in Ruso district and an unknown number of attackers opened fire at officials. After an exchange of gunfire, the assailants disengaged, leaving one of their number dead from the encounter.
(KUNA) -- At least 35 rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and three government soldiers have been killed in fresh clashes in battle-fatigued Northern region of Sri Lanka. At least two LTTE rebels were killed Monday in Navatkulam in Vavuniya, Sri Lankan Defence Ministry said in a statement in Colombo. Five more LTTE rebels were killed in Muhamalai yesterday, Sri Lanka's Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said today. As many as three LTTE rebels were gunned down in Kiribbanwewa area in Welioya yesterday, MCNS said.
In another incident, five LTTE cadres were killed in Andankulam area also in Welioya yesterday, the Defence Ministry said. Five more rebels and two soldiers were killed in Janakpura in Welioya yesterday, the MCNS said. Four rebels were killed in different incidents in Pandivirichchan, Vilayathikulam and Kallikulam areas of Vavuniya yesterday, the Defence Ministry said. In Mannar, troops yesterday killed three rebels in Kanthankulam, two in Sirikulam and one each in Parayakulam, Nedunkandal and Nedunkulam areas of the region, the MCNS said. Another three rebels were killed in Kappankulam area of Mannar yesterday, the Ministry said, addding one soldier was killed in Parayakulam area of Mannar yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Looks like the Lankans are finally winning against the Tigers.
Why are you guys publishing the names of the FBI guys in Pakistan?
Hopefully it is not their real names but in any case it is irresponsible of you and you should remove from your website the article immediately! As far as google can tell you are the only ones to publish those names on the World Wide Web.
#1
COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG > US ADAPTS COLD WAR IDEA TO FIGHT TERRORISTS. Dissent + Discord, etc. vv DISINFORMATION.
*REDDIT > FORMER NSA CHIEF [General Odom] > AL QAEDA WANTS THE USA TO ATTACK IRAN.
*WORLD NEWS > IRANIANS AWAIT THEIR MESSIAH.
*BUDDHISTS: WORLD NEARING ZENITH OF LIGHT OR DARKNESS.
OTOH, HMMMMMM, HMMMMMM, WHY REVEAL NOW WHEN OSAMA AND RADICAL ISLAM ARE NOT YET COMPLETELY, PER SE DEFEATED? Sounds like the US ARMY-CIA-NSA is worried about PAULA ABDUL = PEPPERIDGE FARMS REMEMBERIN' TOO MUCH, TOO SOON???
#8
No, mhw dear. That's not what belly dancing looks like, except when done by a completely unschooled beginner -- much like Mr. Wife's essays at gymnastics when first we met.
#11
right now I have very little alcohol in the blood
on the other hand, I think I was astounded that anyone as topheavy as Anita could dance at all; also I'm not sure what the heck Shakira is doing but she is so pretty and moves so well that it really doesn't seem to matter
#12
mhw, maybe, (though seen better dancers in the neighborhood pub--and they do it naked!), but once she opens her mouth... one would think she got cross-bred with a goat. ;-)
Fred, could you post a personal note from me, thanking Sea and everyone at Rantburg so much (brief sniffle and swipe at tears) for post on Sunday about the loss of my good friend and boss on Saturday?
It was an absolutely ghastly day, and will probably go on being on the ghastly side, because I will have to cope with his family and friends who know that I was the one to find him and want all the details. Not morbid, I think - but they really want to be assured that dying wasn't so awful for him. I expect that I will have to repeat several hundred times more that he really looked very peaceful (which he did) and that it probably happened in the middle of the night... and that no, I am not horrifically traumatized by the experience of discovering him dead.
Possibly I have been hanging out with the 19th century Americans enough to become acclimated to certain realities.
But I do want to thank you all - because of this, I can help his family sort out what to do next, without freaking about about my own financial situation.
Sgt Mom
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Celia, we hope things get better for you soon. Take it one day at a time, one breath at a time if need be.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A suicide car bomber killed two Danish and one Czech NATO soldiers, an interpreter and three civilians in southern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.
Gun battles between clan militias killed at least 10 people in central Somalia on Monday, local elders and hospital staff said. Disputes flare sporadically between clans in the Horn of Africa nation. Some clans support Islamist insurgents against the Ethiopian-backed government.
Two Algerian soldiers have been killed and 17 wounded in a clash with Islamist rebels east of Algiers, a security source said on Monday. It was the first reported death of security force members in Algerian political violence for more than a month. Gunmen opened fire at an army patrol conducting a search on Sunday near the Mediterranean coastal town of Jijel 300 km (190 miles), from the capital, following reports that rebels were planning a suicide attack on a naval base in the area, the source said. The gunmen were believed to belong to the al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), the source said. On Feb. 7 suspected Islamist rebels killed eight paramilitary gendarmes in an ambush some 500 km (300 miles) southeast of Algiers. Violence broke out in Algeria in 1992 after the military-backed authorities scrapped a parliamentary election that an Islamist political party was set to win. Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing bloodshed.
Three Turkish citizens are arrested on suspicion of fundraising for and membership in the Kurdish group, PKK, German prosecutors say. The three Turkish citizens ranging in age from 26 to 50 years old were picked up last Wednesday after a court issued arrest warrants, public prosecutor Horst Hund in the western city of Koblenz said in a statement. 
Taliban militants blew up four Khasadar Force checkposts and a female vocational centre in Mohmand Agency on Monday. No loss of life was reported in the incidents. After a lull in violence that lasted about a week, the militants blew up checkposts in Atta Bazar, Mohammad Kor, Ashraf Abad and Kadakhel, and the female vocational centre in the Ghalanai Bazaar. The Taliban did, however, have the Khasadar checkposts vacated before blowing them up.
A police officer and a head constable were killed and seven others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside Sind Police Lines in Swat on Monday. Station House Officer (SHO) Tor Gul and Head Constable Anayatur Rehmand were killed, and Aziz, Liaqat, Nisar, Jannat Gul, Sardar Bahadar, Ali Murad, and Shamsul Qamar injured, in the blast. The condition of the two of the injured was serious, hospital sources told Daily Times.
(KUNA) -- A top insurgent of outlawed rebel group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was Monday killed in an encounter with the Army in India's Northeastern state of Assam. Kanak Chetia, an explosive expert of ULFA's "28th batallion", was killed in an encounter at Dirakbokhai village in Assam's Tinsukia district, news agency Press Trust of India reported quoting, a state government official. A Chinese pistol along with huge amount of explosives were recovered from the slain insurgent, the news agency said.
(KUNA) -- Ten Iraqis were injured in different incidents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, while Iraqi police found five bodies in Mosul and Kirkuk, according to the Iraqi police. A police source in Mosul told KUNA a booby-trapped car exploded near a police car injuring six people including a police officer. Four civilians were injured when five mortar shells hit different parts of Mosul, he added. The source, meanwhile, said the Iraqi police found two bodies with their heads chopped off, while three bodies of the Sahwa (Awakening) council forces were found southern Kirkuk.
(KUNA) -- At least 35 rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and three government soldiers have been killed in fresh clashes in battle-fatigued Northern region of Sri Lanka. At least two LTTE rebels were killed Monday in Navatkulam in Vavuniya, Sri Lankan Defence Ministry said in a statement in Colombo. Five more LTTE rebels were killed in Muhamalai yesterday, Sri Lanka's Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said today. As many as three LTTE rebels were gunned down in Kiribbanwewa area in Welioya yesterday, MCNS said.
