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S.Lankan Military Confirms 18,000 Tamil Tiger Deaths Since 1982
Sri Lanka's Security forces have confirmed that over 18,000 Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed since 1982.
The military also said that government troops continue to retake and bring under government control more areas that have been under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been fighting a war against government forces for a separate state for 17 years.
According to statistics with the Ministry of Defense, quoted Wednesday by the national news agency "Lankapuwath," 18,262 LTTE guerrillas have been killed during this period and over 20,000 others wounded.
The ministry said that a total of 2,410 Tamil Tiger rebels was killed in 1999 and 508 killed so far this year.
The long-running bloody civil war launched by the LTTE has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Efforts to achieve a political solution to the war have so far failed despite three efforts at peace talks under the ruling of President J.R. Jayewardene in 1984, President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1990 and the incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1995.
Norway has initiated a peace negotiation between the government and Tamil Tigers but so far little progress has been achieved.
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