Sri Lanka: Fighting kills 20 rebels, 3 soldiers...Read more..

Sri Lanka: Fighting kills 20 rebels, 3 soldiers A new round of fighting between government forces and Tamil separatists across Sri Lanka's embattled northern region killed 20 rebels and three soldiers, the military said Saturday. The civil war on the Indian Ocean island has escalated in recent weeks with government troops capturing a series of key rebel-held towns and bases in the north. Government officials have reiterated their pledge to rout the Tamil Tiger rebels by the end of the year and end the 25-year-old civil war. The latest infantry clashes took place throughout Friday in the northern districts of Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Welioya, the military said in a statement. The worst battles were reported in Kilinochchi, where 10 rebels and three soldiers were killed. Eleven rebels and 14 soldiers were wounded, the statement said. Scattered fighting in Vavuniya and Welioya killed 10 rebels and wounded 19 guerrillas and seven soldiers, the military said. With nearly all communications to the north severed, rebel spokesmen could not be contacted for comment. Both sides have been accused of exaggerating enemy casualties while underreporting their own. Independent verification of the fighting is not possible because journalists are barred from the war zone. The rebels have been fighting for an independent state in the north and east since 1983, following decades of marginalization of ethnic Tamils by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict.