Artillery exchanges left at least 25 Tamil rebels and two Sri Lankan soldiers dead, the defence ministry said Monday after the president vowed to destroy the separatist guerrillas.Ten soldiers were also wounded in the heavy fighting in the north of the island on Sunday, the ministry said. President Mahinda Rajapakse told a public rally in central Sri Lanka the same day that the government had no plans to halt the military operations against the Tigers. His office said he reiterated that until “every inch of land is captured and the last terrorist is destroyed” his government will not call off “liberation operations against the LTTE.”
Pull-out: There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). However, a pro-rebel website reported that the Sri Lankan military had pulled back after suffering heavy casualties following six hours of artillery fire in Mannar. The rebels later seized military hardware after troops withdrew, the website quoted LTTE local commanders. Last month, Rajapakse told the country on the 60th anniversary of independence from Britain that “terrorism is receiving an unprecedented defeat” after the government pulled out of a truce with the rebels in January.
Since the beginning of the year, at least 1,779 rebels and 99 government soldiers have been killed in fighting, according to the defence ministry. Aid workers say over 170 civilians have also perished during the same period. Sri Lanka plans to spend a record 1.57 billion dollars for defence in calendar 2008, up 20 percent from last year, according to figures presented to the national parliament. Rising defence spending and concerns over the islandÂ’s human rights record has seen several countries withhold bilateral aid to the island.