Sri Lankan soldiers killed 14 Tamil Tiger rebels in the latest gun battles in the insurgents' ever-shrinking northern territory, amid growing international pressure to safeguard 50,000 civilians trapped in the war zone, Associated Press reported. The military has ousted the rebels from all their strongholds in recent months and cornered them in a 3-mile-long (5-kilometer-long) strip along the northeastern coast. But international pressure has grown for a cease-fire to protect 50,000 ethnic Tamil civilians trapped in the area following a U.N. report that nearly 6,500 civilians have been killed in the last three months. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said army troops pushed further into the rebels' remaining territory on Friday, triggering gun battles that killed at least 14 insurgents. He did not provide details of casualties suffered by the government forces.
