According to a military spokesperson, government troops repulsed an attack around a throttlehold of Tamil separatist rebels in northern Sri Lanka, killing at least 29 guerillas.

On Friday, troops recovered 29 bodies of murdered rebels after the fighting which occurred Thursday in the Mallavi area, 320 kilometres north-east of Colombo, the spokesman reported.

The clashes in Mullaitivu came only a day after the military took over a rebel-held area in Mallavi, killing no less than 25 Tamil Tiger rebels. Troops “successfully repulsed a terrorist retaliation attempt south of Mallavi last night” and recovered 22 corpses of terrorists, including two chiefs, said the Media Centre for National Security. The search operation continues.

It was also reported that the day earlier fighting in four northern districts 13 Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed and 42 have been injured. Also, three soldiers had passed away and 13 were wounded. Moreover, the Navy had destroyed three Tamil Tiger boats down the coast at Chilavaththai in Mullaitivu, a small town on the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka.

No independent reports about the casualty numbers have been reported by the military. However, civilian sources have strengthened that the troops have made considerable gains as a result of recapturing previously rebel-held areas.

Sri Lanka’s government is working at a strategy to progressively retake the Tiger's northern stranglehold and win the 25-year civil war amidst a nearly daily barrage of land, sea and air attacks in rebel-held areas in the north. Troops gave their promise to recapture them by the end of the year.