11 Tamil Tiger Rebels Killed in Sri Lankan FightingThe Sri Lankan government forces killed 11 separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in battle zones of the country on Tuesday, the defense ministry said Wednesday.Government forces killed three women fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Weli Oya while another four Tiger rebels were killed in a separate confrontation in the same area, the ministry said. It said another four Tiger rebels were shot dead in the northern Jaffna peninsula. Two government soldiers were also killed by a bomb which went off while they were searching an abandoned house in Chavakachcheri. Military spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said five air force jets bombed a position of LTTE south of Nagarkovil on Wednesday, inflicting heavy losses to the rebels, but he was unable to give any figure. The LTTE extended on Thursday their unilateral ceasefire by one more month till April 24 and warned that they would break it if the government wound not respond positively. Their ceasefire began on Christmas Eve last year. The government has maintained that a reciprocal ceasefire is possible only after talks between the two sides make substantive progress. The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 in the north and east of the country for a separate Tamil state. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the bloody war. |
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