Dozens killed in 2 days of fighting
Two days of scattered fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels left at least 39 insurgents and a soldier dead, the military said.
A bomb explosion on a bus wounded at least 14 people near Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, but a bigger disaster was averted because a passenger spotted the device and everyone fled the vehicle before the blast, officials said.
The latest fighting erupted in the northeastern Welioya region, where soldiers killed at least eight guerrillas, the military said in a statement. A day earlier, clashes broke out in at least six locations, leaving 31 rebels and one soldier dead, the statement said.
The Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for Sri Lanka’s minority ethnic Tamils.
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