Heavy fighting kills 145 in N Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 120 Tamil Tiger rebels and 25 government soldiers were killed in Sri Lanka Tuesday in heavy fighting in several areas near the rebels' administrative town of Kilinochchi in the north, according to military sources.

Military Spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said 250 members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and 160 soldiers were also injured in the confrontations in the areas of Muhamalai, Kilali, Paranthan, Kilinochchi and Iranamadu.

"The Army's 55th and 53th brigades ventured to expand their forward defense lines in Muhamalai and Kilali causing heavy damages to the LTTE. Similarly the Task Force 1 of the 57th brigade went out to expand the defense lines in Paranthan, Kilinochchi and Iranamadu," Nanayakkara told reporters.

Nanayakkara said the troops gained control of 5 km stretch of the LTTE built earth ditch west of Paranthan and Kilinochchi.

On the other hand, pro-LTTE sources said more than 40 Army soldiers were killed and at least 120 soldiers wounded in Kilali area alone Tuesday morning when the LTTE repulsed an offensive push by the Army along the Forward Defence Line.

They said the Army launched its offensive push at 1:30 a.m (2000 GMT) and the Army was forced to pull back its troops at 10:30a.m. (0500 GMT) after nine hours' fighting.

The government says the troops are on a humanitarian mission to liberate the Tamil civilians from the clutches of the rebels.

They are poised to evict the rebels from their administrative center of Kilinochchi. The government and international rights watch dog Human Rights Watch have condemned the rebels for holding the civilians against their will in the areas controlled by the LTTE.

The LTTE since mid-2007 has lost vital territory to the advancing government troops in what the government claims to be the final stage of the long drawn-out fighting in the island's separatist conflict.

The LTTE has been fighting a fierce military campaign against government troops since the mid-1980s to carve out a separate homeland for the minority Tamil community in the north and east, resulting in the killing of more than 70,000 people.