Sri Lankan troops shot dead another 17 Tamil Tiger guerrillas in a confrontation Saturday in the Jaffna peninsula where 76 combatants were killed in overnight fighting, officials said.
Soldiers attacked a group of fighters of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Navatkuli on Saturday afternoon, killing 17 of them, defense ministry spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said.
"There was a piece of land where we had not moved to after yesterday's, operation," Karunaratne said. "The terrorists had come there and we were able to engage them."
The confrontation came as hundreds of troops were clearing mines a day after capturing a large area from Tamil Tiger rebels following a heavy land, sea and air attack that killed 76 on both sides on Friday.
Government forces uncovered eight anti-tank mines, automatic assault rifles and ammunition left behind by the LTTE, military spokesman Karunaratne said.
"The soldiers are conducting clearing operations in the area today," Karunaratne said.
Heavily armed soldiers backed by tanks, aircraft and gunboats mounted the onslaught Friday and captured about 35 square kilometers (13.5 square miles) from Tiger rebels on the Jaffna peninsula, the defense ministry said.
Karunaratne said troops recovered the bodies of 51 rebels killed in ferocious fighting around a vital highway that links Jaffna town with nearby Chavakachcheri.
Some 24 government soldiers and one officer were killed and another 47 wounded in the fighting which came hours after the LTTE's announcement of a unilateral ceasefire from Christmas Eve.
"We have now almost opened the entire A-9 highway between Chavakachcheri and Jaffna town with only two more kilometers to be opened," Karunaratne said.
"Isolated pockets of terrorists fighting for their lives were annihilated and their weapons recovered."
There was no immediate rebel reaction to the latest fighting.
"The LTTE has taken a beating in Jaffna with the latest military campaigns and they are no longer in a position to pose an immediate threat to the Jaffna town," a defense source here said.
Overnight the LTTE sent a statement from its London office saying it was offering a ceasefire in the hope Colombo would reciprocate to salvage a faltering peace process assisted by Norway.
Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim said there had been positive developments on both sides, but that there was "still a gap to be bridged."
Britain said it hoped the truce offer would be "genuine," adding it expected both sides to honour the ceasefire in the interest of peace for Sri Lanka's 19 million people.
The Sri Lankan government in a statement issued by Media Minister Anura Priyadarshna Yapa Friday said it was being cautious before responding to the ceasefire offer as Colombo had been let down in the past -- COLOMBO (AFP)
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