Sri Lankan troops have clashed with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in northern and northwestern Sri Lanka as a part of a wider operation to reclaim rebel-held terrain.

 

Thursday's fighting killed at least 38 rebels and four soldiers in the northwestern district of Mannar, the military said on Friday.

The latest violence came as the island's government was accused by the rebels of being behind hundreds of so-called disappearances.

 

A Sri Lankan army spokesman said that the fighting occured along a border that separated rebel-held terrain from government territory in the northern districts of Vavuniya, Jaffna, Polonnaruwa and the northwestern district of Mannar.

 

The fighting occured the same day when the rebels accused the military of blowing up a key rebel-backed parliamentarian, with a roadside bomb in northern Sri Lanka.

However, the military denied any hand in the attack.

Truce scrapped

Earlier, in January this year, the Sri Lankan government had scrapped a truce pact with the rebels, accusing them of using the ceasefire to re-arm themselves.

Three Sri Lankan members of parliament have also been killed this year, including the one on Thursday.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan president, has taken a tough stand against the Tamil tigers and aims to defeat them by the end of this year.