Sri Lankan troops killed 17 Tamil Tiger rebels in fighting in the far north of the island, the military said tody, while the rebels said military shelling killed three civilians.
The fighting in the island's far north came as government forces continued their push against the rebels' northern stronghold.
"Troops had killed 17 LTTE terrorists and 35 were wounded from the fighting on Thursday," said a military spokesman, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "Four soldiers had also died and 16 were wounded."
The fighting came days after the military claimed it entered the northern district where the rebels' de-facto capital is located, amid daily land, sea and air attacks in northern rebel-held territories.
The Tigers are fighting for an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka for ethnic Tamils, a minority in the predominantly Sinhalese country. They claimed that army shelling had killed three people, including an infant.
Sri Lanka's government is pursuing a strategy to gradually retake the Tiger's northern stronghold and win the 25-year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people.
Analysts say the military has an advantage in the latest phase of the war given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east. But they still see no clear winner on the horizon.
Reuters