The Sri Lankan military said its Air Force carried out air strikes against Tamil Tiger rebels' positions Saturday morning, while heavy clashes erupted between the government troops and the rebels in the north, reported Xinhua.
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the fighter jets carried out air strikes targeting LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) defense line in the South of Mullaithivu at 11 a.m. local time (0530 GMT).
The statement also said "heavy clashes have been reported in the East of Dharmapuram areas since last night", but the military did not mention any casualties on both sides.
Meanwhile, the LTTE said on a pro-rebel website that 51 government soldiers were killed and 150 others were injured in the confrontation at Dharmapuram in the Mullaithivu district on Friday.
The military also said that the Army's 57 Division declared Ramanadapuram liberated from the LTTE on Saturday after several days of fighting.
Ramanadapuram is the second largest built-up other than the Kilinochchi town in the Kilinochchi district.
The Army said military actions have led to the LTTE being now confined to a small jungle patch in the Mullaithivu district.
The LTTE, which began to wage war with government troops in the mid-1980s to set up a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east, has faced a series of military defeats since 2006.
