Sri Lankan soldiers capture rebel base

Clashes elsewhere in the region killed 16 rebels and one soldier, the military said.

The civil war on the Indian Ocean island has escalated in recent months, with the military stepping up ground assaults and air strikes after the government pledged to capture rebel-held territory and crush the insurgents.

In the latest assault, army troops seized a rebel base in the village of Illupakadavai in the northern Mannar district early Sunday, said Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman.

He said soldiers killed 15 rebels during a 48-hour battle to capture the base and one soldier was wounded by a rebel mortar attack.

Also Sunday, air force fighter jets destroyed six rebel boats off the island's western coast, said air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara.

He said details of casualties were not available.

Separate gunbattles elsewhere in the region Saturday left 16 rebels and a soldier dead, Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Soldiers killed 11 rebels in Vavuniya while five rebels died in the nearby Mannar district, he said.

Separately, a soldier was killed by a sniper's bullet in Mannar, he said.