Security forces used warplanes and artillery to repel a major Tamil rebel attack in northern Sri Lanka yesterday, killing 300 Tiger guerrillas for the loss of 20 from their own ranks, the defence ministry said.
The outlawed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) mounted the pre-dawn attack in waves against army defences at the town of Paranthan in the district of Kilinochchi just south of the Jaffna peninsula, officials said.
The latest LTTE attack against security forces came three days before the country's 50th anniversary of independence, to be celebrated in the capital, Colombo, 335 km from the scene of fighting.
The visit by the Prince of Wales to Sri Lanka will still go ahead today, despite the reported killings, Buckingham Palace said yesterday in London. A palace spokeswoman refused to discuss reports that Prince Charles's protection squad have told the Sri Lankan government that the visit will be cancelled unless they are allowed to carry firearms.
The Sri Lankan defence ministry said 20 soldiers were killed and 86 wounded. It said troops had so far recovered 218 rebel bodies.
Military sources, however, gave a higher figure for army casualties, saying 200 wounded soldiers had already been evacuated by air to a hospital in the north-central town of Anuradhapura.
Fighting in Paranthan ended a near two-month lull in major clashes in the army's battle to open a key highway in the north of the country to link the peninsula of Jaffna with the rest of the country.
The Tigers mounted a strong attack against an elite army unit on December 5th, killing at least 160 soldiers for the loss of an equal number of their own men, according to official figures.
Since then, there had been no major confrontations in the battle code-named "Sure Victory".
The drive to capture the 75-km stretch of road through rebel-held territory began last May 13th. Since then troops have lost more than 1,000 men killed and many more wounded.
The military has said that security forces killed more than 2,500 rebels, a claim denied by the guerrillas.
Security forces captured Jaffna, the former citadel of the LTTE, in December 1995 but the guerrillas continue to hold the main road to the region, forcing troops to use expensive sea and air transport to supply the peninsula.
The defence ministry said that air force jets and ground attack aircraft were sent to reinforce troops manning a bunker line while artillery units pounded rebel positions.
The government formally banned the LTTE following the suicide bombing of the country's holiest Buddhist shrine in the hill region of Kandy on January 25th, which killed 16 people.
Thousands of extra police and troops poured into the capital yesterday in preparation for today's celebrations. Events were switched from Kandy to Colombo following the bombing.
There was no immediate word from the LTTE about the latest fighting in the north. But the guerrillas in a statement from their London office claimed they had destroyed 25 army posts in the Jaffna peninsula.