(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-24 15:34

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Government troops and Tamil rebels fought scattered battles across northern Sri Lanka in fresh fighting that killed 23 rebel fighters and three soldiers, the military said Monday.

Fighting between the two sides has escalated since the government pulled out of a long-ignored cease-fire with the rebels in January. The government promised swift victory over the Tamil Tigers, but many observers say the rebels are putting up far more resistance than the government expected.

It was not possible to get independent accounts of the clashes because the war zone is restricted to journalists. Both the government and the rebels often exaggerate their enemy's casualties and underreport their own.

The latest fighting Sunday killed 10 rebel fighters in the Vavuniya district south of the Tamil Tigers' de facto state in the north, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Battles in the Welioya area killed six rebels and four soldiers, six other rebels were killed in Mannar and another was killed in Jaffna, he said.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment.

The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils who have been marginalized for decades by successive governments run by majority ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.