About 150 Sri Lanka Combatants Killed

Nearly 150 people were reported killed in the bloodiest day of Sri Lanka’s 12-year-old civil war Wednesday, including as many as 75 soldiers who died in a guerrilla attack in the north.

The rebels waded and crossed a shallow lagoon in boats just after midnight to storm a garrison on an island 180 miles north of Colombo, a government spokesman said.

The attack, two miles from the rebel-held Jaffna peninsula, was the army’s worst setback since rebels shot down two transport planes April 29, killing more than 100 people.

The rebels are fighting for a homeland for minority Tamils, who claim discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. More than 35,000 people have been killed since 1983.

Military officials speaking on condition of anonymity said 75 soldiers died in the attack.

The military said soldiers later recaptured the base.

At least 50 guerrillas were also killed in the attack, officials said.

In four other assaults throughout the north and east of this Indian Ocean island, the military reported eight police officers, four soldiers, three paramilitary guards and nine rebels killed.