Fighting between government troops and the Tamil Tigers continued into the second week in Sri Lanka's northern battle theater.

Major Upali Rajapakse of the National Security Media Center said Saturday that clashes resumed on Friday between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and the military in Muhamalai and Nagarkovil areas in the Jaffna peninsula and the battles continued till early morning of Saturday.

He said the military had destroyed a boat yard of the LTTE at Thaladi in the Vadamarachchi sector of the peninsula Friday evening as the Sri Lanka Air force carried out air raids on selected Tiger positions.

The military said the fighting in the forward defense lines at Muhamalai was to flush out Tiger infiltrations.

Over 500 fighters from both sides have died in the battle which started on Aug. 11 when the Tiger began heavy shelling of the government forward defense lines.

In spite of the fighting, both sides maintain that they still abide by the Norwegian brokered ceasefire.

President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday emphasized that his action was only in defense against aggression of the Tigers and his government believes only in the process of negotiations to end the ethnic separatist impasse.

Meanwhile, the state administrative officers in the battle zone said that a serious humanitarian crisis was looming in Jaffna.

The Government Agents who are the chief administrative officers in Jaffna and Kilinochchi district said that over 50,000 metric tons of essential food items are needed by each of the districts.

The UN refugee agency said last week that around 135,000 people have been displaced from battles in the north and east -- around 60,000 to 70,000 of them are from the north.

The military opened the northern exit point at Omanthai for a limited period on Friday enabling some civilians to move into the areas of LTTE control.

The curfew in the northern Jaffna peninsula is to be lifted at 12 noon local time (0630 GMT) for 5 hours on Saturday, the police said.

The present military confrontations began late last month when the government troops made an advance into the rebel held areas in the northeastern area of Maavil Aru where the Tigers had forcibly shut a sluice gate depriving some 15,000 civilians of water.

The rebels responded with attacks in the eastern province, evicting around 25,000 Muslims from the Muslim dominated town of Muttur.

The Tigers then shifted the battles to the Jaffna peninsula, triggering international pleas on both sides to stop clashes and return to the negotiating table.

More than 64,000 people were killed in the conflict between the mid 1980s and the February 2002 ceasefire accord.

The Norwegian backed process has been upstaged by a cycle of violence since the beginning of December last year.

Over 1500 lives have been lost since then, endangering hopes for a negotiated settlement.

Source: Xinhua