45 killed in Lanka fighting

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they killed at least 30 Sri Lankan troops and recovered the bodies of five during heavy fighting in Trincomalee district.

"We have killed 30 Sri Lankan soldiers, including two officers and recovered five bodies," LTTE spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan told AFP. "Shelling by security forces have also killed 15 civilians. Many more are injured."

He said seven Tiger rebels were wounded in the long-range attacks.

There was no immediate reaction from the military to the rebel claims, but the defence ministry said six security personnel were wounded in the clashes.

The casualty figures cannot be independently verified as authorities have not allowed journalists to the embattled regions. International aid agencies have also had access seriously curtailed.

Earlier the LTTE said seven civilians were killed and another 20 wounded in military attacks on the rebel-held Vakarai area.

"Sri Lankan military fired artillery shells that fell in front of the Pammivedduvan school refugee camp, killing four civilians and injuring more than 10," the Tigers said in a statement.

Three more civilians were killed elsewhere in the region, while another 10 civilians were wounded in a separate attack on the Patchenai school, which had been converted into refugee camp, the rebels said.

The defence ministry said in a statement villages held by government forces were under a barrage of Tiger artillery fire.

"Some villagers who had left their homes in the wee hours of today (Saturday) on reaching the hospital area were faced with a barrage of Tiger artillery fire," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Local officials said 17 soldiers were injured while many more civilians were wounded in government-held areas.

Hundreds of civilians were unable to leave the area because of the sporadic artillery attacks, a military official in the area said by telephone.

The two sides were exchanging long-range attacks along the district borders of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, local officials said.

The renewed attacks came after peacebroker Norway failed on Friday to secure an agreement to end a blockade on the Jaffna peninsula, where nearly half a million people are trapped by fighting.

The LTTE said they told Oslo's envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer to persuade the government to open the land access to the embattled north without conditions.

The government had asked Hanssen-Bauer to secure a deal with the Tigers to allow a convoy of some 400 trucks to travel through rebel-held territory, but the Tigers rejected a one-off convoy.

Instead, the LTTE political wing leader SP Thamilselvan told Hanssen-Bauer the government must open a disputed highway to Jaffna, as well as another highway to the island's east.

The Tamil Tigers have been campaigning for independence for the island's minority 2.5-million Tamil community in the majority Sinhalese nation of 19.5 million people.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Sri Lanka in the past year in the bitter ethnic conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.