The World - News from May 16, 1989
At least 40 Indian soldiers and Tamil guerrillas were killed in fierce fighting over the weekend in northern Sri Lanka, an Indian Embassy spokeswoman in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, said. The spokeswoman said 10 soldiers were killed in an ambush by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrillas on the northern Jaffna Peninsula. She said 18 rebels and 12 soldiers were killed in a separate battle in northern Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the extremist Sinhalese People’s Liberation Front denied reports that its leader, Rohana Wijeweera, is ill and seeking government permission to go abroad for medical treatment. Tamil guerrillas have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland.
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