Heavy fighting after Tigers blast dam in Sri Lanka: military

COLOMBO (AFP) – Heavy fighting broke out in northern Sri Lanka on Sunday, a day after Tamil Tiger rebels blasted a dam and flooded land in a bid to halt the army's recent rapid advances, the defence ministry said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched counter-attacks on military positions in Mullaittivu district where troops are on the offensive, the ministry said.

"Troops have thwarted an LTTE abortive mission to breach the military forward defences," the ministry said, adding that the guerrillas had used boats to cross flooded areas.

On Saturday, the guerrillas blew up a dam and flooded low-lying areas of the district, the last remaining area still under Tamil Tiger control.

The ministry said the Tigers had also fired artillery and mortars at army positions to slow down relief operations to civilians in flooded areas.

The military did not say if it had suffered any casualties in the latest fighting.

Sri Lanka's army chief, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, has said he aims to crush the Tigers by April, when the country marks the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

The Tigers have not commented on the latest fighting, but the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website recently accused the military of shelling civilians trapped inside rebel-held areas.

The Sinhalese-majority island has been gripped by the insurgency since 1972.