Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers fired mortar bombs at advancing troops in the east on Friday and killed six soldiers, a military source said, as jets bombed rebel positions. The fighting in Thoppigala in the eastern district of Batticaloa came after the military said two soldiers and 10 Tiger rebels had been killed in the far north on Thursday.
Sri Lanka has been gripped by renewed civil war following the collapse last year of a ceasefire agreed in 2002. "There was a mortar attack. One major and five soldiers were killed. Seven others were injured," a military source told Reuters, asking not to be named.
Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe confirmed the mortar attack, but said he had no details of casualties. Fighter jets bombed suspected Tiger targets in the north-western district of Mannar and near Thoppigala.