Tigers kill 22 soldiers in Lankan firefight

Kayal Viliyan, a senior rebel in the Tigers' eastern political office in the district of Batticaloa, told Reuters around 60 troops entered Tiger territory in an area the military say is government-held, and were surrounded by about 200 rebels.

"We have found 22 bodies, and we are still searching," he said by telephone from Batticaloa. "They came into our area and we retaliated. We have also captured some military personnel."

The military confirmed there had been a clash in Batticaloa, where the dividing line between government and rebel-held areas is often porous and ill-defined, but said four troops were injured and some were unaccounted for.

"Our patrol was fired upon with heavy weapons and mortars, close to an army camp. Additional troops were rushed to the area, and when they arrived, the Tigers surrounded them," said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe.

"I presume some soldiers have been killed, but it is not 22. It is very much less. A few are missing."

The incident came as Sri Lanka's navy rained mortar shells on Tamil rebel positions in the neighbouring northern district of Trincomalee in a separate incident after suspected snipers killed one sailor and injured another.

The violence also comes after suspected Tiger rebels shot dead three soldiers and a political rival in northern Sri Lanka on Thursday. The ambushes and military clashes have killed more than 700 people so far this year and strained a 2002 truce to the breaking point.

Meanwhile, France yesterday asked Sri Lanka's warring parties to resume peace negotiations amid an escalation of fighting and said a peace deal was still possible in the embattled South Asian nation.

The outgoing French ambassador Jean Bernard de Vaivre said the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) must stop using violence and enter negotiations with the government to end decades of ethnic bloodshed.

"I believe a solution is still possible," the ambassador said in a message marking the French national day. "It is high time that pretexts sought in order to put off dialogue or to reject it are renounced."

His remarks came as 12 soldiers and four Tiger rebels were killed in an exchange of long-range mortar bomb attacks in the island's restive eastern province.

"Violence and terrorism cannot solve anything. Those in favour of such an approach will never be supported and will never receive the backing either of France or the international community," the ambassador said.

He said the LTTE was eventually added to the list of terrorist organisations because it consistently refused to change its behaviour despite repeated appeals over the years.

"Equally, however, the state should not tolerate any reprehensible actions from any members of its representatives," the ambassador said in a reference to allegations of human rights abuses by security forces.

"Sri Lanka possesses so much potential talent, so many skills within each of its large communities that it is high time that they put an end to the quarrels of the past and turn towards the future," he said.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in the island's drawn out Tamil separatist conflict. Tiger rebels have been fighting for independence from the majority Sinhalese nation of 19.5 million people.