Sri Lankan air forces bombed rebel positions in the north of the island on Monday, while troops killed 49 Tamil Tiger rebels in fighting, military officials said, Reuters reports.

The air raids began a day after a suspected rebel suicide bomber murdered a cabinet minister, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, 55, and 13 other people on Sunday. According to the police, 83 people were injured due to the bombing near the capital, Colombo, including 16 who were in critical condition. Currently, helicopter gunships were deployed against rebel bunkers.

The Tamil Tigers fought for their independent homeland in northern Sri Lanka for more than two decades, in a civil war that caused the deaths of nearly 70,000 people. The bombing in Colombo was the latest assault since the government’s January backdown from a truce with rebels.

The attack on Sunday happened as the Highways Minister was participating at a New Year celebration in the city of Weliveriya, 18 miles outside Colombo. He is the second minister to have been assassinated, as the minister for nation building, D.M. Dassanayake, was also killed in a blast on 8 January, within a few days after the government’s withdrawal from an armistice with the Tamil Tigers.

The European Union (E.U.) expressed its strong disapproval over the suicide attack that caused Fernandopulle’s death and demanded for a stop to all forms of violence and terrorism against civilians. According to E.U., there is no military solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka, only a negotiated one.

According to the latest toll, the number of rebels believed to have been killed by security forces this year climbed at 2,700. The number of security staff murdered during the same period is 156. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not comment over the latest attacks and air raids.