COLOMBO, Nov 8: Fierce clashes in the northern front lines left 69 Tamil rebels and 11 soldiers dead, the army said on Thursday. Both the military and the Tamil Tigers claimed victory in the fresh battles that began on Wednesday.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nannayakkara said over 30 LTTE cadres had been killed in Wednesday’s fighting and at least 39 in Thursday’s. But the rebels have acknowledged the death of only one Tiger cadre and claimed to have killed 23 soldiers.

The rebels also said they had repulsed heavy attacks of

the military on the rebel controlled north.

Artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher fire began rocking the Northern Forward Defence Line in the Poonakari region in the guerrilla-controlled Killinochchi district early on Wednesday, the rebels said adding that they had retaliated with artillery fire.

“Liberation Tigers have repulsed a Sri Lanka Army ground operation towards the Northern Forward Defence Line (FDL) positions between Ki’laali and Mukamaalai,” Irasiah Ilanthirayan, the military spokesman of the Tiger separatists was quoted on the pro rebel Tamil Net as saying.