2007-06-04 12:58:53 -

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Sri Lanka's air force pounded rebel positions in the north Monday, near territory that the rebels claimed to have retaken from the military in fierce weekend fighting, the military said.

Air force planes staged the attack in an area of northern Vavuniya district where clashes between government soldiers and rebels

over the weekend left dozens of fighters dead, according to Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse of the Defense Ministry media center

Rajapakse said a gathering of guerrillas were targeted, while the information center said in a statement that two rebel artillery positions were also destroyed. A rebel spokesman was not available immediately to comment.



Earlier, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, the rebel spokesman, said the guerrillas had retaken about 7 square kilometers (2.7 square miles) of territory along a de facto border between government and rebel-held areas in the Vavuniya district during weekend clashes, after losing it several months ago.

However, Rajapakse denied that government troops had retreated and said 52 guerrillas were killed in the weekend fighting. Ilanthirayan said 30 government soldiers had died.

It was not possible to verify the claims. Both sides often inflate casualty figures for the other and lower their own.

On Sunday, meanwhile, soldiers seized hundreds of anti-personnel mines, bombs and other explosives during a search of three former rebel-held villages in the east. The 685 anti-personnel mines, 22 bombs and anti-tank mines were recovered in Verugal, Pankudaveli and Panichchankerni villages that had been under rebel control, the military said.

Sri Lanka's Red Cross, meanwhile, said the abduction and killing of two of its workers would jeopardize its operations.

The Red Cross «demands justice and calls upon Sri Lankan authorities to carry out an immediate and comprehensive investigation into these brutal killings and demands that those responsible for these killings be brought before justice,» Red Cross President Jagath Abeysinghe said.

On Sunday, Red Cross officials identified the bodies of two ethnic Tamil employees who had been abducted earlier and shot to death. The bodies were found Saturday in Ratnapura district, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Colombo, Red Cross official Neville Nanayakkara said.

Nanayakkara said the two men were involved in tsunami reconstruction and were abducted Friday while waiting for a train at a station in the capital.

Hundreds of people have been abducted in recent months amid a deepening conflict between Tamil rebels and the government.

Aid workers have been increasingly targeted in the conflict, and the execution-style killing last August of 17 local workers of the international aid group Action Against Hunger in the eastern town of Muttur drew widespread international condemnation.

Sri Lanka's undeclared war continues to worsen despite a 2002 cease-fire that remains officially in place. Since the Norwegian-brokered truce began crumbling in December 2005, more than 5,000 people have been killed, according to European cease-fire monitors.

Tamil Tiger rebels have fought government troops since 1983 to create a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 million minority ethnic Tamils, who have suffered decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

About 70,000 people have died in the conflict.

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Associated Press reporter Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report