Heavy clashes in Sri Lanka 's northeast jeopardize new plans for peace talks

Associated Press, Fri October 6, 2006 08:44 EDT COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Heavy clashes broke out between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in three parts of Sri Lanka's volatile north and east, killing a large number of insurgents and wounding eight soldiers, the military said Friday. ``Sri Lanka's troops launched an operation backed by artillery and air support to gain our territory,'' said rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan. Samarasinghe denied the accusation.

A spokesman for the Nordic cease-fire mission said both sides had filed complaints, accusing the other of starting the fighting.

``It's difficult to say who started first'' because monitors are unable to assess the ground situation given the ongoing fighting, said Thorfinnur Omarsson.

``This is very disappointing as it happened at a time when they had agreed for talks,'' Omarsson said.

In the northern Jaffna Peninsula, six soldiers were wounded Friday when Tamil Tigers fired artillery toward the northern defense line, the military spokesman said.

The air force later launched airstrikes on rebel artillery and mortar positions, Samarasinghe added.

Separately, soldiers destroyed six Tamil Tiger boats off the country's northern coast suspected of transporting fuel, he said.

The boats were destroyed overnight near the sea of Pallaithivu, an islet off the northern Jaffna Peninsula, by the soldiers' artillery fire, he said.

A suspected oil storage facility on the islet also caught fire and was destroyed, he said.

A round of peace talks is planned for Oct. 28 and 29 in Switzerland. The last round of peace talks, aimed at ending two decades of civil war, was held in February.

The rebels agreed to unconditional talks with the government, but warned they would pull out of a 2002 cease-fire accord if the government persists with its military campaign.

The government cautioned it would counter any offensives by the insurgents ahead of the talks.

The Norway-brokered 2002 cease-fire temporarily ended Sri Lanka - 's civil war between the government and the Tamil Tigers, who want to carve out a separate homeland in the north and east for the country's ethnic Tamil minority, citing decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

About 65,000 people died in the conflict before the truce.

Renewed fighting since late July has left at least another 1,000 combatants and civilians dead, even though both sides say they are still honoring the truce.