Sri Lankan army soldiers patrol the site of an explosion in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008. A bomb blast blamed on separatist Tamil Tigers wounded 45 people in Sri Lanka's capital Saturday, while renewed fighting in the embattled north killed 18 rebels and three soldiers, the military said. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) S.Lanka Fighting Kills 84, Air Strikes Hit Rebels -- Reuters
COLOMBO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan jets and helicopters blasted Tamil Tiger rebel positions on Monday after three days of combat killed at least 84 people, part of a military offensive towards the separatists' de facto capital.
Fighting since Friday killed 70 insurgents and wounded 77 others, while 14 troops were killed and 53 were wounded at several locations along a shifting frontline in the north of the Indian Ocean island nation, the army said.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also said the military had killed five civilians on Sunday while shelling Kilinochchi, the rebels' administrative seat and a symbolic target the military is trying to capture.
The government denied killing any civilians and has dropped leaflets urging thousands of people caught in the fighting to head south to the army-controlled town of Vavuniya, to which the army has promised safe passage.
The war in the past two years has sent more than 100,000 fleeing the north and east of the country. The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to turn the area into a separate nation for the minority ethnic Tamils.
The 25-year-old war flared in January when the government officially threw out a poorly observed ceasefire and went full force at the LTTE, vowing to wipe it out this year.
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More News On Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka fighting kills 84 -- ABC News (Australia)
Sri Lankan military says 37 killed in new fighting -- International Herald Tribune
Tigers accuse Sri Lanka of shelling camp -- UPI
Sri Lanka Urges Civilians To Flee From Rebel Areas -- CBS News
Colombo to establish safe corridor for civilians -- The Hindu
Sri Lanka's Tamils live in fear, and resignation, of security forces -- International Herald Tribune
My Comment: All conflicts .... when the end is near .... gets very messy. After 25 years the war between the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority is coming to an end. I expect heavy casualties and a humanitarian nightmare when this is all over.