Associated Press, Thu November 23, 2006 08:31 EST . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) The Sri Lankan military, backed by tanks and war planes, battled Tamil Tiger rebels for over three hours on Thursday for control of territory in the east, a military spokesman said. The rebels said they killed seven government commandoes. Air force planes bombed an identified Sea Tiger base in Mullaithivu district of northern Sri Lanka - on Thursday, an official at the national security media center said. There were no reports on the casualties.
Separately, rebels raided a security camp in northern Kabithigollewa before dawn Thursday, killing three government ``home guards'' pro-government civilian residents who have weapons training and help security forces the media center said.
Also Thursday, three policemen and a security guard, providing security for ethnic Sinhalese farmers working in their fields, were killed by suspected Tamil Tigers in eastern Ampara, the official said.
The Tigers have been fighting for over two decades for a separate homeland for the country's ethnic Tamil minority, citing discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. A 2002 cease-fire temporarily took the steam out of the bloody civil war, but since last December, airstrikes, mine attacks, assassinations and heavy arms fire have killed more than 3,200 fighters and civilians.
Both sides insist they have not withdrawn from the truce, but peace talks to try to salvage the accord held in Switzerland in October failed to bring about any progress.
With peace talks stalled, the government and the rebels refuse to budge from their positions. The rebels want a separate homeland, while the government says regional autonomy is the maximum it will give.
Associated Press writers Krishan Francis and Bharatha Mallawarachi, contributed to the report.
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