Sri Lanka Says Bombs Rebel Hideout, Kills 5 Rebels

Sri Lankan warplanes bombed a Tamil Tiger rebel hideout on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan warplanes bombed a Tamil Tiger rebel hideout on Tuesday, and soldiers separately killed five insurgents in clashes in the north, the military said.

The violence in the north, the focus of renewed civil war between the state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is the latest in a series of near daily clashes in recent months.

"Army killed five terrorists in two different confrontations in Vavuniya on Monday," said military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. One soldier was killed in the fighting in the northern district, he said.

On Tuesday, Sri Lankan air force's Israeli-made jets attacked a suspected base of a senior Tamil Tiger leader in rebel-held Mullaitivu area.

"According to the data, we received the target was compleatly destroyed." said Air Force spokesman group captain Ajanth De Silva.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who say they are fighting for an independent state for minority ethnic Tamils in the north and east, were not immediately available for comment on the latest clashes.

Around 5,000 people have been killed in fighting between the military and the LTTE guerrillas since early 2006.

Nearly 70,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since the war erupted in 1983.