Heavy weekend fighting between government troops and Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka's contested north killed 39 rebels and eight soldiers, the military said Sunday. The latest battles erupted Saturday along the front lines in the Welioya, Mannar and Vavuniya regions, the military said. In the worst fighting, soldiers killed 13 Tamil Tiger rebels in Welioya, said a Defense Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of government regulations. Four soldiers were also killed, he said. Separate fighting elsewhere in Welioya killed four rebels and three soldiers, the official said. Army troops seized a small section of territory in the village of Puliyankulam in the northern Vavuniya district after a battle that killed 10 guerrillas, the official said. The battle also wounded 10 rebels and two soldiers.
