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COLOMBO, SRI LANKA- The Tamil Tigers on Thursday accused government troops of killing eight civilians with roadside bombs in their de facto state in north Sri Lanka, but the military denied it.Military spokesman Brigadier
Udaya Nanayakkara said troops had not mounted any ambushes in rebel territory on Wednesday, but said nine rebels and one soldier were killed in clashes in the northern districts of Vavuniya and Mannar the same day.
With Nordic truce monitors banished from the island after the government formally scrapped a 6-year truce last month, there are seldom independent accounts confirming what happens on the battlefield or behind rebel lines.
Analysts say the government has the upper hand in a new phase of the 25-year civil war given strength of numbers, increased air power and terrain captured in the east, but warn the Tigers still retain their strike capability and should not be written off.
"Two Claymore attacks by Sri Lankan deep penetration units within five hours ... killed eight civilians," the Tigers said in an emailed statement, referring to mines used as roadside bombs to often devastating effect.
"In both incidents the victims were traveling in tractor-trailers to work in the paddy fields."
The Tigers are blamed for a string of similar deadly attacks in recent months increasingly focused on civilians in the government-run south of the island.
Renewed war has hurt the economy. Fighting hit tourist arrivals last year, which fell 12 percent from a year earlier, while the stock market slid nearly 7 percent in 2007, with some businesses shelving investment plans.
The military says 43 rebels and six soldiers have died so far this week. Analysts say toll claims by both sides are almost certainly inflated.
Nanayakkara said the military killed a Tiger fighter in the eastern district of Batticaloa on Thursday, where the government is preparing to hold local council elections in areas captured from the rebels last year.
The eastern polls are seen as a test run for eventual wider provincial elections aimed at entrenching civil administration in former rebel areas, which are central to a devolution plan aimed at minority Tamils.
But not everyone is happy with the plans.
Former militant hardline Marxist party the JVP, which helped shore up President Mahinda Rajapaksa's fragile majority in parliament, is up in arms at proposals for more regional autonomy.
But they have stopped short of threatening to pull the rug.
"Why separate one part of the Tamil population from the others? This is separatism by the government," JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe told the Foreign Correspondents' Association late on Wednesday. "We don't accept that." --Reuters
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