The air force bombed a top Tamil Tiger leaderÂ’s hideout deep inside rebel-controlled territory in northern Sri Lanka early Tuesday as violence grew throughout the war-torn area, the military said. The bombing occurred about 6:30 a.m. in the Mullaittivu district in the Tamil Tigers de facto state in the north, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The military declined to identify the target of the airstrike, and rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not answer repeated calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
In other fighting, troops in the Vavuniya district, on the frontier between rebel and government-controlled territory, killed four rebels in fighting Monday afternoon, the military official said. One soldier was also killed in the battle, he said. A fifth rebel was killed Monday night in another battle in the region, he said. The fighting came as clashes between the two sides have markedly increased.
The military announced Monday that 17 guerrillas and two soldiers had been killed in four separate battles the previous day, and a total of 100 rebels had been killed in the previous 10 days of fighting. However the two sides routinely overstate their enemyÂ’s casualties and play down their own. The military said the new fighting was not part of a new offensive, but was the result of intensified rebel efforts to infiltrate across the front lines.
The rebels have said the government was exaggerating the intensity of the fighting, which amounted to only a few small battles. The government has said it aims to defeat the Tamil Tigers and end the islandÂ’s more that two-decade-old separatist conflict which has killed an estimated 70,000 people.