Lanka bombs Tigers for fourth day

Tamil Tiger rebels told Nordic truce monitors yesterday the air force killed eight of their fighters in a fourth day of aerial bombings, as the military sought to wrest control of a reservoir.

The Tigers had no immediate comment when contacted, but the unarmed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said the Tigers told them eight cadres were killed when a bomb hit a rebel camp.

Military officials said the air force bombed Tiger targets in the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

Many observers fear the fighting could spiral out of control, rupture a 2002 truce and restart a two-decade civil war that has already killed more than 65,000 people.

Military officials said an operation to clear access to a sluice gate, which they accuse the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of blocking to choke water supplies to Sinhalese farmers on government land, was underway but gave no details.

A Reuters photographer in the eastern district of Trincomalee heard the bombers fly overhead and heard the explosions.

"The army started shelling us this morning, and then the bombers arrived," said S. Elilan, head of the Tigers' political wing in the district. "They bombed near the water tank, but people have already moved away from there, so there were no injuries."

Elilan said rebel fighters chased away army ground troops as the sides battled with mortars on Friday, but the military denied ground troops had approached the area from a camp 3 miles (5 km) away.