At least 11 Tamil Tigers and one soldier were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka’s restive northern region, the military said here on Sunday.

In Jaffna’s Muhamulai area troops killed two infiltrating Tamil Tigers on Saturday evening, the defence ministry said, adding that the troops recovered several weapons in Chankani. In sporadic clashes with the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the LTTE-dominated Wanni area Saturday, the Tigers lost at least nine of their cadres during day time, it said.

While troops in Villattikulam killed four LTTE cadres, the confrontations between Tigers and security forces at Mannar on Saturday saw five militants and one soldier killed, the defence ministry said. The confrontation erupted when government troops conducted a search and clear operation in the area, the ministry said. The damage to LTTE was yet to be ascertained, it said. Meanwhile, troops in Kokkupadayan in Mannar recovered two Out Boat Machines (OBM) belonging to the militants, the ministry said

In another incident at Parappakandal in Mannar on Saturday evening, a soldier sustained injuries as an anti-personnel mine exploded when he was involved in clearing operation in the area, the army said. In Saraweli of eastern Batticaloa, six hand grenades were recovered late on Saturday night, the army said. Security forces recovered two skeletal remains from the Vavuniya jungles believed to be that of army personnel who went missing in action in the area on June 5.

In Jaffna, acting on information, the security forces recovered two T-56 weapons, 66 T-56 live ammunition, three cyanide capsules and two field dressing sets from an abandoned location in the area on Sunday morning.

At least four Tamil Tigers were killed on Saturday when troops on surveillance patrol sank a rebel vessel off northern Jaffna, the army said, while the LTTE claimed to have destroyed a Sri Lanka Navy boat and killed five military personnel. The LTTE claimed that five Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) personnel were killed by Sea Tigers who destroyed a Naval inshore patrol vessel in the seas off Paasaiyoor in Jaffna.

Over 70,000 people have been killed during the two-and-a-half decades of armed confrontation between the security forces and the LTTE. More than 5,000 people have died in clashes between the two sides since December 2005.