Sri Lankan soldiers and Tamil Tiger rebels fought heavy battles during an army push to corner the separatist insurgents on the Indian Ocean island's northeast coast, the military said on Monday. The fighting on Sunday took place at several locations around the shrinking wedge of jungle that is all the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) still control, with analysts saying the 25-year war is near its end. “We have recovered five bodies and over 40 LTTE were killed according to rebel transmissions we intercepted,” military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. He did not mention military casualties.
