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Troops killed three suspected Tamil rebels along the de facto border in northern Sri Lanka as the air force bombed guerrilla targets elsewhere, the defence ministry said Thursday.
Security forces shot dead three men who tried to infiltrate the army's defence lines at Muhamalai in the Jaffna peninsula on Wednesday night, the ministry said.
The shooting came hours after the air force bombed what it called the main Sea Tiger headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a claim rejected by the guerrillas.
The LTTE initially said there were no casualties in the aerial bombardment in the district of Mullaitivu, but later gave details of two civilians who had been killed and four more who were wounded.
The first air raid hit the “White Pigeon” charity which helps victims of landmines, the LTTE said, adding that the civilians died in further aerial bombing in the same area.
The air force suffered a humiliating attack last week when Tiger aircraft bombed its main base next to the island's only international airport and managed to escape unchallenged.
The LTTE has waged a 35-year campaign for independence that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
More than 4,000 people have been killed in the latest upsurge of fighting that began in December 2005.
