Tamil Tiger guerrillas today admitted losing 33 of their cadres and killing over 300 government troopers in fierce fighting in northern Sri Lanka.
The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said over their clandestine Voice of Tigers radio that they had captured the bodies of 30 soldiers who were killed in fighting since Wednesday.
However, the government said it lost 87 soldiers with another 382 wounded and placed rebel losses at 110 cadres killed and over 300 wounded.
The VOT also denied government claims that the air force bombed two buses full of rebel reinforcements sent to the battle field on Thursday.
Ferocious fighting raged in the Jaffna peninsula as thousands of government troops tried to break through rebel defences and move towards the LTTE-held Pallai town on Wednesday at the end of a four-month-long truce by the Tigers.
"The government troops have suffered massive casualties as the combat formations of the Liberation Tigers offered stiff and determined resistance to the offensive assault launched by the Sri Lankan army," the LTTE said in a statement last night.
AFP