Sri Lanka jets hit Tiger positions as ground battles rage: military News

COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s airforce staged a series of bombing raids against suspected Tamil Tiger targets as ground troops fought fierce battles on several fronts, the defence ministry said on Saturday.

Security forces, waging a massive offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), have been facing stiff resistance in their march toward the northern rebel political capital of Kilinochchi, the ministry said.

 

"Air Force fighter jets launched three air strikes at LTTE strong points located in the west of Paranthan on Friday," the ministry said, referring to a town just north of Kilinochchi.

 

Government soldiers further north in the Jaffna peninsula clashed with Tiger rebels at three locations on Friday, the ministry said.

 

Neither side gave details of casualties.

 

The latest confrontations came after the authorities claimed securing parts of a key highway running through rebel-held territory in the island’s north.

 

The LTTE has admitted losing ground to government troops but their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has vowed to fight on.

 

The guerrillas, who began their struggle for a separate Tamil homeland in 1972, are facing the Sri Lankan army’s biggest-ever push to defeat the rebels militarily.

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