Tamil Tiger rebels pounded military bases in northeastern Sri Lanka Wednesday with heavy artillery and mortar bombs, sparking a battle with government troops in which at least 20 civilians were wounded, officials said.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) directed their latest attack against three military camps in the southern sector of Trincomalee where they had targeted the main naval port on Tuesday, military officials said.
"There are 20 civilians admitted," a doctor at the main Trincomalee hospital said. "We have asked for Red Cross help to evacuate these people."
The Tigers attacked the Kattaparichchan army camp and two of its detachments throughout the night and the military retaliated using mortars and artillery, military officials said.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website said the Tigers had overrun the Kattaparichchan army base but the defence ministry denied the claim and said security forces were holding their ground.
There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side.
On Tuesday, the LTTE used 122-millimeter artillery to target the main navy base at Trincomalee as a ferry carrying hundreds of troops was about to dock there, the military said.
A military official said five rebel boats pursued the ferry but that navy gunboats were able to sink three of them, inflicting unspecified casualties on the guerrillas.
Ground troops also used multi-barrel rocket launchers to neutralise rebel gun positions.
Four people were killed and about 30 injured in the navy base attack, the military said, but the Tigers claimed they had killed at least six sailors.
Fighting in the Trincomalee district erupted a week ago over control of an irrigation canal blocked by Tigers.
A ground offensive against the Tigers was at its bloodiest on Monday, claiming at least 67 lives on both sides despite a ceasefire in force since February 2002.
The Tamil Tigers have been waging a violent campaign since the 1970s to win an independent homeland in the northeast for the minority Tamil population.
