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Army-guerrilla battles kill 31 in Sri Lanka

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

The guerrillas ambushed and killed 18 Special Task Force police commandos as they set out on a road-clearing mission from the village of Pulukunawa in eastern Amparai district, the military said in a statement.

The military raised the number of commando deaths to 18 from a Friday estimate of 16.

Eight commandos were wounded in the ambush, the statement said. It also said two soldiers were killed and eight wounded when 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.

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

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 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils, have intensified attacks on military targets ahead of a widely expected offensive by the armed forces in the north.

"(The Tigers) seem to be coming down very hard on the army specially in the east," an analyst told Reuters. "It seems to be distracting the army from achieving its objectives in the north."

The military warned civilians last week to stay away from rebel camps which were likely to come under artillery or air attack without notice.

The announcement, as well as a remark by Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte that he would end the ethnic war before the traditional New Year on April 14, have been interpreted as heralding a major onslaught against the Tigers.

The military has poured troops into northern bases in what has been seen as a buildup for a new offensive, residents in the north told Reuters.

But the rebels' clandestine radio, Voice of the Tigers, said on Friday that the military had postponed the offensive due to heavy casualties over the past few months.

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