COLOMBO, June 14: Sporadic fighting between Tamil Tiger guerrillas and Government troops left 12 people dead in the north and east of Sri Lanka, the military said on Saturday.
The series of clashes came on the sidelines of the main battlefront north of Vavuniya, where columns of soldiers have been trying for the last four weeks to capture a vital highway to the Jaffna peninsula.
In the eastern district of Ampara, rebels stopped a passenger bus near Ondachchimadam village on Friday and gunned down three policemen and two civilian passengers, said Major I Dewage, a military spokesman.
The attackers escaped into the jungle, 200 kms east of Colombo.
On Friday three guerrillas were killed in an attack on a military outpost at Punanai in Batticaloa district, also on the east coast, said Dewage. One soldier was wounded.
In the Northern Jaffna district, a land mine on the road near Chavakachcheri destroyed a military truck and killed four soldiers, Dewages said. Eight soldiers were wounded in the incident 300 kms north of Colombo.
No developments were reported on Saturday in the campaign to seize the northern highway, which is becoming one of the largest operation of the 14-year war against the Tigers.