Lankan troops kill 24 rebels in north

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COLOMBO, Dec 8 (Reuters): Sri Lankan troops killed 24 Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes in the north of the island, the military said Saturday, days after dozens of people died in rebels bombings of a bus and a shopping centre.
The latest clashes took place in the north-west district of Mannar, where the military launched an offensive earlier this year to evict the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, and the Jaffna peninsula in the north.
One soldier was killed in another clash in Vavuniya, a spokesman at the Media centre for National Security said.
The Tigers, who are seeking to carve out an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka, were not immediately available for comment.