At least 17 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels have been killed in separate confrontations in the island's north throughout Thursday, defense officials in Colombo said Friday.

Some three LTTE members were killed when the government troops targeted a rebel tractor with a road side bomb explosion in the northern Vavuniya district in Omanthai.

Another 12 rebels were killed in clashes with government troops elsewhere in Vavuniya and in Mannar. Two more rebels were killed by the Army when they attacked a rebel bunker at Muhamalai in the Jaffna peninsula south of the A9 highway.

Clashes continue in the armed conflict as the military has launched its offensive to re-capture the north from rebel control. The government says they are in full control of the east since mid last year and it was now only a matter of time before the rebels are evicted from the northern strongholds.

More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict since the mid 1980s. The LTTE rebels want to set up a separate homeland for the minority Tamil community claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhala community.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2008)