KANTALAI (Sri Lanka), Aug 10: Sri Lankan warplanes bombed rebel positions on Thursday while ground troops were in fierce battles that the Tamil Tiger rebels said had killed more than 50 people.

The battles, which included mortar and artillery attacks, ended a brief lull in violence following the reopening on Tuesday of a disputed waterway near the town of Kantalai in the Trincomalee district.

Military officials said seven soldiers were killed and about 70 wounded.

Defence ministry spokesman Upali Rajapakse said they estimated that 25 to 30 guerillas may have died in the fighting, but could not firm the fatalities.

“We don’t have exact Tiger losses,” he said.

For their part, the Tiger guerillas said they lost three cadres killed and seven wounded, but placed civilian casualties at over 50 killed and more than 200 wounded.

The Tigers said military shelling had sent some 42,000 people living in rebel-held areas of Trincomalee fleeing to safety, but that they were running out of water, food and medicine.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had blocked the canal on July 20, sparking fierce clashes in which 440 people were killed in two weeks of bloodletting before it was reopened.