Fighting in Sri Lanka kills at least 21

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels killed a soldier with a roadside bomb in the island's far north today, the military said, adding that troops killed 21 insurgents in ground fighting a day earlier.

The fighting comes on the heels of near daily land battles and air raids as the state and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fight a new phase of a 25-year civil war in which an estimated 70,000 have been killed.

"One soldier was killed in a Claymore mine attack in ... Vavuniya this morning," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, referring to a northern district which straddles rebel-held and government territory.

"Twenty one LTTE cadres were killed on Saturday," he added, in reference to fighting in the northern districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya and a northern area called Welioya, he added.

The Tigers, who are seeking to carve out an independent state in the island's north and east, dismissed the death toll claim as disinformation.

"We were able to inflict casualties on the Sri Lankan armed forces' side," rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone from the Tigers' northern stronghold, which the government has made off-limits to journalists as it seeks to crush them military.

"We had only one KIA (killed in action)," he added.

The Tigers routinely deny involvement in deadly roadside bombings and suicide attacks across the island, which are increasingly focused on civilians.

"Of course we do attack Sri Lankan soldiers who are occupying our homeland, and we will continue to attack them," Ilanthiraiyan said.

The military has reported near daily rebel death tolls in the dozens in recent weeks, and analysts say the statistics are inflated. They say both sides exaggerate enemy losses and play down their own.