Fresh fighting in Sri Lanka's north has killed 28 Tamil Tiger rebels and four soldiers, the military said on Tuesday.
A spokesman at the government's Media Centre for National Security said clashes were taking place in the northern districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Polonnaruwa.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), battling to create an independent state in north and east for ethnic Tamils, were not immediately available for comment.
Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of the long-running war given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east, buth they still see no clear winner on the horizon.
An estimated 70,000 people have died since the civil war began in 1983.
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