The military in Sri Lanka said 10 Tamil Tiger rebels and two Army soldiers were killed in a fierce battle in the north on Saturday.

Army officials said Army troops who mobilized artillery guns and armor tanks destroyed a LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) bunker line and captured four rebel bunkers to the north of Manthai in the Mannar district around mid-noon.

The Air Force also participated in the mission using MI-24 gunship during the mission, officials said.

Ten LTTE cadres were confirmed killed and a large number injured in the battle, while two soldiers were killed and four others sustained injuries.

Sri Lanka's security forces are currently engaging the rebels in the Northern Province with heavy artillery and mortar duels being reported regularly.

The Sri Lankan government said Wednesday 104 soldiers and police officers were killed while 822 were wounded in February during the conflicts between government troops and the LTTE.

It also said 871 LTTE rebels were killed in February, in addition to about 500 rebels killed in January.

Having taken over the control of the Eastern Province last July, government leaders now vow to crush the Tamil Tigers from their last Northern Province bastion.

The LTTE has been fighting the troops since the mid-1980s to carve out a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in the north and east, resulting in the death of more than 70,000 people.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2008)