COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Government soldiers killed 23 separatist Tamil rebels during a fierce clash in eastern Sri Lanka as the army attempted to regain control of the area, the military said Tuesday.
The battle erupted late Monday while the soldiers were on an operation in the village of Unnichchai in the eastern Batticaloa district, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.
The military has launched several attacks in recent weeks to capture rebel bases and regain control of the east of the island, part of the area the rebels claim for an independent homeland.
The military recovered 10 bodies of rebels and was preparing to hand them over to the guerrillas through the International Committee of the Red Cross, Samarasinghe said, adding that two soldiers were wounded in the clash.
Also on Tuesday, police commandoes shot and killed two rebels who attacked a police check point in the eastern town of Kalmunai, said Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse of the Defense Ministry. One police officer was killed in the attack.
Separately, in the northern Vavuniya district, army troops killed two insurgents Monday evening, said Rajapakse, adding that assault rifles, detonators and a radio set were found with the bodies.
Rebel officials could not be reached for comment.
Heavy violence in recent days has included the rebels' first air raid, a naval battle, a suicide bombing, government airstrikes and a bomb blast on a bus that killed 16 people and wounded 25, as the tropical island edges toward a resumption of full-scale civil war.
The victims of the bus blast near the eastern town of Ampara on Monday were mostly from the country's Sinhalese ethnic majority, Samarasinghe said, blaming the Tamil rebels for the attack.
A Tamil Tiger spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, denied their involvement and condemned the killing of innocent civilians.
"We believe that this was carried out by forces who are opposed to us to create a bad name for us when the SAARC meeting is being held in India," he said.
Leaders of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, are meeting in India this week. The group consists of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The Red Cross on Tuesday condemned the killing of civilians.
"The ICRC is deeply concerned about the rising number of civilians being injured or killed as a result of deliberate attacks in Sri Lanka's escalating violence," Toon Vandenhove, the ICRC's head in Colombo said in statement.
"In recent months, men, women and children taking no part whatever in the hostilities have been the victims of shells and bombs."
The rebels have generally targeted the military in recent years, including stepped-up attacks on government forces at sea. Last week the Tamil Tigers launched their first-ever airstrike, bombing an air force base on the outskirts of the capital.
Tamil rebels have fought the government since 1983 to create an independent homeland for the country's 3.1 million Tamil minority after decades of discrimination.
A Norwegian-brokered cease-fire signed in 2002 temporarily ended more than two decades of fighting. More than 4,000 people have been killed since violence flared again in late 2005, though both sides still claim to abide by the agreement.
At least 65,000 people were killed before the cease-fire.
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