Fighting kills 16 Tamil separatists, 1 soldier dies in bomb blast, Sri Lankan military says

At least 16 Tamil separatists died in gunbattles with government troops in northern Sri Lanka, while a roadside bomb killed one soldier in the government-controlled south, the military said Saturday.

Troops attacked Tamil Tiger bunkers and killed seven rebels Friday in the northern Vavuniya district, just south of the rebels' de facto state in the north, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara. Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting, Nanayakkara said.

Two other battles in the northern Jaffna peninsula Friday left seven insurgents dead and two soldiers wounded, he said.

Another confrontation in Mannar district left two rebels dead, he added.

Meanwhile, a roadside bombing Saturday near the southeastern town of Buttala killed one soldier.

The soldiers were riding through the jungle on a tractor when the insurgents set off the bomb, Nanayakkara said. The bomb wounded two soldiers, one of whom later died in hospital, he said.

In an e-mailed statement, the Tamil Tigers said their fighters killed four soldiers in the blast, and that the rebels suffered no casualties.

Nanayakkara said denied the rebels' claim. The rebel statement did not give details of fighting in the north.

Tamil Tigers spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not answer calls seeking comment Saturday.

It is not possible to independently verify reports of the fighting and the blast because the government restricts access to the north where the conflict is raging. Both sides routinely exaggerate their opponents' casualty figures while underreporting their own.

Reports of fighting have increased in recent months amid government promises to capture the Tamil Tigers' de facto state in the North and crush the group by the end of the year.

But diplomats and other observers say the army is facing more resistance than it had expected.

Fighting, which has escalated in the past two years, further flared after the government announced in January it was pulling out of a tattered cease-fire.