At least 41 Tamil Tigers and seven soldiers were killed in a fresh outbreak of violence on Monday in embattled northern Sri Lanka, the army said.
Thirty-five Tiger rebels were killed and 25 others injured in a clash with government forces on Monday morning in Adampam in Mannar, a national security official said. Six soldiers were killed and 20 others wounded in the battle, he said.
Two LTTE rebels were killed when they tried to breach the security forces' defence line at Muhamalai in Jaffna, the army said, adding that the troops also destroyed two rebel bunkers.
A suspected LTTE suicide bomber killed himself at a civilian house at Vadiri, Jaffna on Sunday after the security forces laid a cordon in the area. The troops, acting on information provided by a civilian about presence of the rebels, had rushed there and cordoned off the area, the army said.
The LTTE cadre has been identified as Darani, a 19-year-old youth from Thumpalai, Point Pedro. The army said it recovered another unexploded suicide belt and a hand-grenade from the possession of the deceased.
In a separate incident in Jaffna, a soldier lost his life in the explosion of a Claymore mine, suspected to be planted by LTTE rebels to target a group of Sri Lankan troops.
In eastern Batticaloa, a former Tamil Tiger rebel, identified as Thambimuththu Nadaraja, was hacked to death by suspected LTTE men on Sunday morning, the army said.