The Ceylon News

The government says thousands have fled the area in the north

A female Tamil Tiger rebel has blown herself up, killing 28 people and injuring dozens more in the north-east, the Sri Lankan military says.

A military spokesman told the BBC the woman blew herself up as she travelled with civilians fleeing fighting.

He said 20 of those killed in the attack in the Vishwamadu area of Mullaitivu district were soldiers. The rebels have made no comment yet.

Thousands of civilians have fled the fighting over the past few days.

Evacuated

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara told the BBC: "[The civilians] were coming to an area where there were security forces. A woman in that group blew herself up when she was being checked by female soldiers."

Brig Nanayakkara said 20 soldiers, including three women, were killed along with eight civilians. About 50 troops and 40 civilians, mostly women and children, were hurt, he said.

The injured, Brig Nanayakkara said, were being evacuated to hospitals in the area.

The rebels have made no comment but on Sunday the pro-rebel TamilNet web site again accused the army of firing shells into civilian zones, killing 80 and wounding 200.

Independent journalists cannot travel to the war zone so information cannot be verified.

The rebel-held enclave is coming under sustained pressure from the army.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called on the Tamil Tigers to let thousands more civilians leave and then unconditionally surrender.

Aid agencies have expressed grave concern for the more than 200,000 civilians believed trapped.

The government has accused the rebels of preventing non-combatants from leaving and using them as human shields.

But the Tigers say the civilians are staying in the enclave because they fear the army.

The rebels started fighting in the 1970s for a separate state for Tamils in the north and east.

The military has made sustained gains in recent weeks and the government has rejected international calls for a ceasefire, demanding the rebels lay down their arms.

The Tigers have said they will not do so until they have a "guarantee of living with freedom and dignity and sovereignty".

At least 41 LTTE cadres were killed, 34 of them in a fierce clash in Mullaittivu, as the advancing Sri Lankan Army thwarted a major rebel infiltration bid on their defence lines.

"As many as 34 LTTE cadres in an armour-plated lorry were approaching the Security Forces Forward Defence Line (FDL) at high speed when the troops assisted by armour tank fire destroyed the vehicle killing all the terrorists inside," the army said in a statement.

The incident occurred in south of Puthukudirippu area in Mullaittivu, the army said.

During subsequent search, troops found 34 dead bodies of the LTTE cadres along with their weapons, it said. Meanwhile, six LTTE cadres were killed when two sea Tiger boats were destroyed at an area 10 km north east of Mullativu this morning, the army said.

In Ramanathapuram and Visuamadu areas in Mullaitivu, troops further stepped into the LTTE hiding areas in order to consolidate their defences, the Defence Ministry said.

The army claimed to have engaged in a rescue mission to open a safe passage to facilitate the escape of Tamil civilians trapped in the rebel-held areas.

Separately, infantrymen also found weapons and claymore mines left behind by LTTE cadres in Visuamadu, where a body of a Tiger rebel was also found, the army said. A search operation by infantrymen also found 26 hand grenades in Ramanathapuram, while troops of the 12 Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment found dry ration stores and 35 barrels of oil containing 7,350 litres of diesel in Visuamadu, the army said.

One T-56 weapon, five claymore mines, two anti-aircraft gun barrels and two empty thermobaric weapons were among the items recovered.

At Mullaittivu, the LTTE cadres suffered heavy damages in confrontations with troops in Pudukudirippu and Kuruvikulam areas yesterday, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said. In East Visuamadu as well, the rebels suffered losses during fierce fighting, it said.

Some soldiers conducting operations in the Visuamadu area were also injured in an anti-personal mine explosion yesterday, the MCNS said. An LTTE mortar launching position consisting of one 81mm mortar and one 60 mm mortar was also recovered, it said.