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Lankan troops kill 25 in

anti-rebel drive

COLOMBO:Sri Lanka's armed forces killed at least 25 Tamil Tiger rebels on the first day of a new offensive in the northern Jaffna peninsula, a senior military source said on Saturday.

The army launched Operation Riviresa Two on Friday against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a year to the day after the rebels unilaterally broke a truce with the government.

The source said the armed forces had suffered two or three dead, and that at least 25 Tamil Tiger fighters had been killed.

"Everything is going smoothly, we have had no major problems," the source said, adding that troops had continued their advance on Saturday in the northeastern Vadamarachchi area and Tenmaradchi, east of Jaffna town.

The troops launched a land, air and sea assault on rebel positions at dawn on Friday, warning civilians to take cover and imposing a curfew on the Jaffna peninsula and northern Kilinochchi district.

"We're expecting more resistance today," another military source said.

A senior aid official said non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the north had been told by LTTE deputy political leader Karikalan to prepare for large influxes of refugees coming south across the Jaffna lagoon to Kilinochchi, the new rebel stronghold.

"There were about 5,000 in the week before (last weekend's Tamil) new year and about 3,000 over the weekend," he said. "There has just been a trickle since then which suggests the people are not listening to the Tigers."

In last year's Operation Riviresa, troops cleared Jaffna town and the adjacent Valikamam district, forcing thousands of civilians to flee east and south across the Jaffna lagoon to the Kilinochchi area, the new de facto LTTE headquarters.

On Friday the government reintroduced censorship for the local press covering military matters. The lead story in the government Daily News and on state radio on Saturday was on soaring world wheat prices.

The LTTE are fighting for a homeland in the north and east in a war that the government says has killed more than 50,000 people.-Reuter