Military: Fighting kills 29 Tamil rebels, 7 soldiers in northern Sri Lanka

Soldiers battled Tamil Tiger rebels across the jungles of northern Sri Lanka on Wednesday in a wave of violence that killed 29 rebels and seven soldiers, the military said.

The attacks came amid a sharp increase in fighting in recent weeks in the volatile north, where the Tamil Tigers control a de facto state. Senior military officials have called for a full-scale offensive to destroy the separatist group after more than two decades of warfare.

In two battles that erupted about 6:30 a.m., separate groups of rebel fighters crossed the front lines and fought with troops near the villages of Adampan and Parapakandal in the Mannar district, just south of …