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31 killed as Lanka

fighting escalates

COLOMBO: Thirty one people, including two civilians, were killed on Friday as Sri Lanka's armed forces and separatist guerrillas clashed in the island's north and east, the military said on Saturday.

The military raised the number of soldiers killed in a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ambush on Friday to 18 from a Friday estimate of 16.

The Special Task Force commandos were ambushed as they set out on a road clearing mission from the village of Pulukunawa in eastern Amparai district, the military said in a statement.

Eight commandos were wounded in the ambush, the statement said. It also said two soldiers were killed and eight wounded when the rebels fired on troops at Idaiyarthurai in Kilinochchi in the north on Friday morning.

"Troops, while clearing the area, were fired upon by terrorists using claymore (mines), mortars and small arms fire," it said.

The LTTE, fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east, have intensified attacks on military targets ahead of a widely expected offensive by the armed forces in the north.

The rebels' propaganda mouthpiece, Voice of Tigers Radio, said on Friday that the military had postponed the offensive due to heavy casualties over the past few months.

Meanwhile, troops on a search and clear operation in the northern Jaffna peninsula killed nine rebels in the village of Chankanai, north of Jaffna town, the military statement said.

It said the troops recovered six machine guns, magazines, 225 rounds of ammunition and a radio set from the dead rebels.

In a separate incident on Friday, the rebels fired at civilians collecting firewood in the jungle near the northeastern village of Welioya. Two civilians were killed and two were wounded, the statement added.

The government says more than 50,000 people have been killed since the rebels launched their separatist campaign in 1983.-Reuter