Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels said on November 4 that they have launched a fresh assault on a strategic military base in the north of the country following the capture of two military complexes.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said in a statement from its London office that heavy fighting was continuing for the third day in the Wanni region, about 280 kilometers north of the capital Colombo.

"Having taken control of the military complexes at Oddusuddan and Nedunkerni in quick succession during the last two days of fighting, the LTTE fighting formations have now surrounded Karupaddamurippu and pounding the strategic military base with heavy artillery and mortar fire," it said.

The army has suffered more than 1,000 casualties in the battles at Oddusuddan and Nedunkerni, according to the LTTE rebels.

The statement said government troops suffered further heavy casualties when the LTTE fighting units launched a fresh offensive thrust Wednesday night on the military base at Karupaddamurippu.

Military officials said Thursday that the military had begun moving reinforcements into the northern Wanni region to stop the rebel offensive codenamed "Unceasing Wave 3."

In another development, the LTTE rebels launched a massive artillery attack on Wednesday on the Kanakarayankulam military complex, said the statement.

The Sri Lankan Defense Ministry admitted indirectly Thursday in a statement that government troops lost the two towns of Oddusuddan and Nedunkerni, the army's worst setback since September 1998, when rebels overran an army camp at northern Kilinochchi town in which nearly 1,000 soldiers and rebels were killed.

But the ministry said the troops have fallen back tactically to areas south of Oddusuddan and Nedunkerni after heavy confrontations.

The LTTE rebels have been fighting a 16-year-old war against the government for an independent homeland in Sri Lanka's north and east for minority Tamils.