8 reported killed in Sri Lanka fighting

Rebels attacked a group of Sri Lankan soldiers who had crossed into insurgent territory in the north, sparking a battle that left seven guerrillas and a soldier dead, the military said Monday. The rebels denied suffering any casualties.

The fighting took place Sunday and was the latest in a series of clashes that have killed dozens in Mannar, a northwestern district that has in recent weeks become a flash point in Sri Lanka's deepening conflict.

The soldiers were pushing ahead of their defensive lines to pre-empt an attack by insurgents and seven rebels and one soldier were killed in the ensuing fight, said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe.

The rebels disputed the government's claim.

"We didn't suffer casualties for the past week in that area," rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said by telephone.

Separately on Monday, the military said soldiers fatally shot a suspected rebel who attempted to throw a grenade at a patrol. A government official who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals, identified the man as a security guard at a government office.

The incident occurred in the Jaffna peninsula, which lies at the northern tip of Sri Lanka and is the heartland of the island nation's 3.1 million ethnic minority Tamils, in whose name the Tigers are fighting for an independent homeland.

Tamils have faced decades of discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese, the predominantly Buddhist ethnic group that accounts for more than 70 percent of the country's 20 million people and dominates its government and military.

Meanwhile, authorities were trying to establish a motive for Sunday's killing of a Buddhist monk in eastern Sri Lanka, the Defense Ministry said.

Unidentified gunmen stormed a Buddhist temple in eastern Trincomalee district, which lies near Tamil Tiger territory, and fatally shot the chief monk, the Rev. Handungamuwe Nandarathana.

More than 69,000 people have been killed since Sri Lanka's war began in 1983.