Troops halt advance amid fierce LTTE resistance

The drive to nullify rebel artillery guns in Sampur town, which threaten the strategically important naval port of Trincomalee about 10km away, stalled because of rebel resistance, a military officer said.

He said artillery duels had died down Tuesday, but war planes bombed suspected Tamil Tiger bases north of Trincomalee in a bid to knock out guerrilla supplies.

The battle for Sampur included air, artillery and ground attacks over late Sunday and Monday. Military sources said 15 soldiers were killed and another 92 wounded.

It is the latest bloody clash in Sri Lanka's three-decade-old ethnic conflict, which has escalated since December after a February 2002 ceasefire began unravelling.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also shelled an army camp in the neighbouring district of Batticaloa.

"There were heavy mortar attacks against Vavunathivu army camp at Batticaloa and troops retaliated in kind," the military officer told AFP by phone from the region. "We have no details of casualties there yet."

Meanwhile troops killed at least 16 Tiger guerrillas in the northern town of Vavuniya after they attempted to attack a military bunker line early Tuesday, the defence ministry said in a statement.

It said two civilians were also gunned down by unidentified gunmen in Vavuniya.

The LTTE, which wants to carve out a homeland for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, complaining they are discriminated against, said 20 civilians were killed and 26 injured in air and artillery attacks late Monday.

The rebel group did not list any casualties it may have suffered in the Sampur fighting. The defence ministry said at least 66 rebels were killed on Monday by security forces in and around Sampur.

It was not possible to get independent verification of the casualty figures.

The ministry said the Sampur offensive was launched after the rebels fired mortar bombs and small arms at security forces from their positions in the town.

Meanwhile, India Monday warned Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels that a return to civil war would not resolve the country's decades-old ethnic conflict.

Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran also repeated India's position that it did not support the creation of a separate state for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.

"We do not believe that war is the way out," Saran told reporters here.

"We do not think violence, whether from LTTE's (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels) side or an armed conflict can resolve any issue," he said.