COLOMBO: Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday accused Sri Lankan security forces of killing 39 civilians and kidnapping 39 others in the last two weeks.

The Tamil Tigers said the killings and abductions had occurred during government military attacks in the island’s embattled northeast and elsewhere.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the highest number of killings was in the northern town of Jaffna, where 18 civilians died.

Sri Lankan troops and the Tigers have traded attacks in their drawn-out ethnic conflict, with nearly 4,000 people killed in the past year alone, despite a Norwegian-backed February 2002 truce.

The charge came as Sri Lanka’s air force bombed suspected rebel targets in the Jaffna peninsula, the defence ministry said.

War planes pounded the towns of Sorampattu and Palai, destroying mortar positions, a day after bombers “completely destroyed” the LTTE’s maritime bases in Chenmalai along the northern coast, the defence ministry said.

But the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com said the military targeted civilian settlements on Friday in the north in land and aerial attacks.

During a visit here earlier this week, Britain’s junior foreign minister said he was concerned about renewed violence, abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings in the island.

Kim Howells said his country was willing to play a bigger role in helping end the long-running ethnic conflict, including direct talks with the LTTE.—AFP