COLOMBO: Sri Lankan helicopters fired rockets at Tamil Tiger rebels constructing a trench during three days of clashes that killed at least 85 people, the military said yesterday.
Soldiers are two km from Kilinochchi, capital of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam’s (LTTE) quasi-government, after an advance that since July has intensified into the bloodiest period of the war since a cease-fire ended in January.
The latest fighting along a front line of heavily mined jungle thick with concrete bunkers and trenches, killed 76 rebels and wounded 92. Mi-24 attack helicopters rocketed rebels using heavy equipment to build a trench line near Akkarayankulam reservoir on Saturday, just southwest of Kilinochchi, the air force said.
In the Jaffna Peninsula, troops killed four rebels along the front lines while a rebel mortar attack killed two soldiers, the statement said. Clashes in Mullaitivu killed four rebels and wounded one soldier, it said.
