illed one soldier, and later seized a road in the east that was rebel-held for 13 years, the military said on Wednesday. The Tigers denied any losses in the battle which took place in Vavuniya district on Tuesday, and instead said they had killed 10 government soldiers in a separate clash overnight in the same region.
The fighting extended a rash of near daily battles between the government and the rebels, who are struggling to establish an independent state in the north and east of the country for ethnic minority Tamils.
"There was mortar fire to the forward defense line in (the north), which killed one soldier and wounded four," said Lieutenant Colonel Upali Rajapakse, a spokesman for the media center for national security.
"We have retaliated and their communications prove at least 20 killed."
Tamil Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan denied any casualties and said the Tigers had killed some 10 soldiers in a small attack in the restive Vavuniya district.
"It must be within 10 and I'm not sure, but it's not more than 10," Ilanthiraiyan said, referring to the number of government soldiers' bodies found.
Samarasinghe, the military spokesman, said only two soldiers had been killed in the past few days.
In the besieged eastern district of Batticaloa, the military said it seized control of the A-5 road between the inland town of Maha Oya and Chenkaladi near the coast.
"This is a great achievement by security forces," Rajapakse said, adding that the Tigers had controlled the 41 km (25.5 miles) stretch of road since 1994.
The Tigers could not be immediately reached for a comment.
There was no way to independently verify the military and rebel claims.
The shelling in Vavuniya led the military to close a checkpoint between government-controlled and rebel-held areas, and forced at least 41 people to flee, adding to the tens of thousands of people already displaced by the fighting.
"The Omantai entry and exit point is closed due to LTTE mortar fire," said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe, referring to the rebels by their official name Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
A spokesman for the media center for national security said 13 children, 16 women and 12 men fled to the government controlled area.
"They say the LTTE is forcing them to move to several places and moving mortars to their villages, and they are scared to live there," he said.
On Thursday and Friday, the majority Sinhalese and ethnic minority Tamils will both celebrate the New Year, and the government has warned the public to be vigilant for possible attempts by the Tamil Tigers to disrupt festivities.
The military on Wednesday said that since Feb. 24, some 204 Tigers had been killed while 13 government security forces troops had died in the Batticaloa area alone.
