COLOMBO, 13 October 2006 — Heavy fighting in northern Sri Lanka has left at least 72 army personnel, including eight officers, and an estimated 200 rebels dead and more than 800 wounded from both sides, despite an agreement to reopen peace talks later this month, military officials said yesterday.

The fighting continued around the Muhamalai and Kilali areas, more than 370 kilometers north of Colombo, for the second straight day, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.

He said 72 soldiers had been killed and 515 were injured in the battle, according to latest figures available. The fighting was the heaviest in the two months after troops made an attempt to take control of a canal in the northeastern part of the country.

Government troops backed by air cover pounded rebel targets moving further south into rebel-held territory, the brigadier said.

Samarasinghe said the military’s operations were defensive in nature and came after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired mortars and artillery on government positions.

The losses to the military have been described as the highest number of casualties in a single confrontation since the government and the rebels entered into a cease-fire agreement in February 2002.

The LTTE, however, said the military set off the fighting, charging the government with seeking to regain territory before the two sides return to the negotiating table. “We have informed the Scandinavian monitors about the operation launched by the army,” rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said.

The fresh fighting has been a setback to the resumption of talks later this month aimed at ending the three-decade-long conflict despite Norwegian efforts to get the two sides to resume negotiations.

On the first day of this week’s fighting, 22 soldiers were killed, but the death toll had risen to 72 yesterday, military officials said. They said 515 soldiers were also injured in the battle and most of them had been evacuated to the capital for treatment.

One injured soldier was captured by the rebels and his photo, as well as a picture of corpses, some of the 75 dead the LTTE claimed to recover from inside their territory, were shown on the pro-rebel web site TamilNet.

The Defense Ministry said it believed more than 200 rebels had been killed and as many as 300 wounded in an estimate obtained by listening in on LTTE radio communications. But rebels have denied the claims by the army and said only 10 cadres have been killed.

Meanwhile, planned Sri Lankan peace talks were in the balance yesterday after the renewed fighting. The clashes came only hours after Norway’s top peace broker, Erik Solheim, had announced a deal between the two sides to resume negotiations in Switzerland later this month.

Retired air force chief Harry Goonetileke said the fighting had dimmed the prospect of a resumption of talks. “I would say that the army fell victim to its own propaganda,” Goonetileke said, referring to upbeat media reports of heavy rebel losses in recent months and official claims that the Tamil Tigers were on the run.

“With this latest fighting we are getting further away from talks,” Goonetileke said. Before the fighting erupted Wednesday, top envoys from Norway and Japan were expected to visit Sri Lanka at the weekend to meet the warring parties and nudge them toward negotiations.

Defense analyst Namal Perera of the Ravaya weekly said the military had clearly underestimated the Tamil Tigers’ strength and had been outmaneuvered. “The army walked into a Tiger trap,” Perera said. “They got the army to move into an open area, boxed them in, and brought down artillery. The Tigers have proved that their fighting capability is in tact,” Perera said.