Brigadier Samarasinghe

The military in Sri Lanka says eleven soldiers have been killed and more than fifty injured in a battle with Tamil Tiger rebels.

An army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said many rebels had also been killed during the fighting in the Muhamalai area of the Northern Jaffna peninsula.

The spokesman said the fighting started on Thursday when rebels attacked government troops.

“We have strengthened our forward defence lines in Muhumali” said Samarasinha.

The defence spokesman said that this is not an operation to capture territory but purely a defensive action in response to LTTE attacks.
A vessel caring about 700 civilians arrived in Trincomalee.

The civilians were unable to travel out of the Jaffna peninsula due to the closure of the A9 route.