Seven soldiers have been killed in two attacks launched by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels against the Army in southeastern Sri Lanka, defense officials said Tuesday.
Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, said that suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels attacked an Army outpost at Talgasmankada near Yala wild life park at about 6 p.m. local time (1230 GMT) on Monday.
"Six soldiers were killed and one was injured in the attack," said Nanayakkara, adding that two soldiers survived the attack unscathed.
The spokesman added that a group of soldiers sent to reinforce the area and take back the bodies were caught by a pressure mine Tuesday morning, with one soldier being killed and three injured.
Defense officials said a jeep belonging to the Wild Life Department was also fired upon by the LTTE rebels, but Wild Life officers have returned safely.
Nanayakkara said the attacks would have been launched by LTTE rebels who fled the Thoppigala area towards the south through jungle terrain.
Thoppigala, the last LTTE stronghold in the Eastern Province, was declared free of rebels mid-July.
Since then, clashes between LTTE rebels and government troops have largely shifted to the island's Northern Province.
The government said Monday that nearly 150 combatants from both sides were killed in the last 10 days of clashes in the north.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhala majority, the LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in the new wave of violence sine the end of 2005, making the Norwegian brokered ceasefire agreement exist only on paper.
Source:Xinhua
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