Sri Lankan Civil war:five rebels killed

Sri Lankan government forces attacked Tamil Tiger’s bunkers on the northern border of the country. Five rebels were killed in the battle.

Photo: Sri Lankan Civil war:five rebels killed

Sri Lankan soldiers attacked separatist Tamil Tiger rebel bunkers along front lines in the country's north Tuesday, killing five guerrillas, the military said.

The early morning attack also destroyed two rebel bunkers in the village of Kilali, along the frontier between government- and rebel-controlled territory, said a defense ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Soldiers did not suffer casualties, he said.

The military's claim could not be independently verified because journalists are barred from the area, and Tamil Tiger spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached immediately for comment.

Both sides in the Sri Lanka conflict are known to inflate the other's death tolls and lower their own.

The government has intensified its military campaign against the Tigers in recent months, aiming to dismantle the rebels' de facto state in the north.

Four months ago, the government announced it had cleared the Tigers from their other former stronghold in the east, though small pockets of resistance remain there.

The Tigers have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in the island country's north and east after a history of discrimination by successive governments controlled by the majority ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict.