Across Asia: Sri Lanka

Scores die in fighting

The battle for the Sri Lankan rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi raged yesterday under torrential monsoon rain, with both sides saying they had killed scores of their enemy in three days of fighting.

The military, emboldened by the capture two weeks ago of the entire western coast for the first time since 1993, is fighting its way toward the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's self-declared capital of Kilinochchi on three fronts.