Sri Lanka fighting kills 23 ahead of top summit

Colombo, Sri Lanka, Aug 01: Sri Lankan soldiers attacked Tamil Tiger rebels with artillery and small arms, triggering battles that killed 21 rebels and two soldier across the embattled north, the military said on Friday.The latest battles erupted on Thursday along the front lines separating the government controlled territory and ... ...defacto state in the north, while leaders and officials from eight South Asian nations gathered in the capital of Colombo for a regional conference.The Tamil Tigers offered a cease-fire last Saturday because of the conference, but he government rejected it as a ploy by the rebels to gain time to regroup after several ground and air attacks on the rebel-held areas in recent days.The government has sealed off roads across the capital and sent 19,000 troops and soldiers onto the streets to prevent any bombings, as a rebel attack near Colombo during the summit, which starts .In the latest fighting, army troops captured a rebel bunker in the Vavuniya district yesterday after a clash that left four rebels and one soldier dead, the military said Two separate clashes, also in Vavuniya, killed four rebels and one soldier, it said.Fighting in the nearby Mannar district killed seven rebels, while in the Welioya region, soldiers fired artillery into the rebel territory, killing two rebels.battles in the area killed four more rebels, the military

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg