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 | Sunday, April 23, 2000, updated at 11:25(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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33 Tamil Rebels Killed in Northern Sri LankaThe Sri Lankan Defense Ministry Saturday said government troops killed at least 33 Tamil rebels on Friday in fresh fighting in the northern Jaffna Peninsula.In Lyakachchi on Friday afternoon, government troops killed more than 20 rebels and wounding many others. Two soldiers were killed and 31 others injured, ministry spokesman Rp Witana said. On Friday morning in Arialai Tongue, the troops, supported by artillery fire, killed at least 12 Tamil rebels, Witana said. In another incident on the same day in Dohiwatta, troops conducted a search and clearing operation and killed one terrorist. The Tamil rebels are engaged in an offensive aimed at taking control of Jaffna Peninsula, their stronghold until government troops recaptured it in May 1996. The main target of the rebels, who have been fighting a war against the government since 1983 for a separate Tamil state in the north and east of the country, now appears to be Elephant Pass, the main road link between the peninsula and the mainland. The rebels launched their operation code-named Oyantha Alaikal at Elephant Pass last December. Witana said government troops now locked in fierce fighting with the rebels in various places in the north and east killed at least 66 rebels and injured a large number of others from April 16 to 21.
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