(Adds fresh fighting) COLOMBO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops killed 10 Tamil Tiger rebels and captured rebel territory in the island's north on Monday, taking the death toll from three days of fighting 68, the military said. Most of those killed were rebels, the military said. Fighting between the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has intensified since the government scrapped a six-year ceasefire pact last month. The government said the rebels had used the truce to re-arm. The latest fighting occurred along the front-line in the northwestern district of Mannar. "Troops backed by artillery fire captured 600 metres of the LTTE's bunker line in Mannar," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. He said 10 rebels were killed and 20 others were wounded. "Two soldiers were also killed and four wounded from the fighting" on Monday, he said. Troops killed 54 rebel fighters in a series of weekend clashes in the northern Jaffna peninsula, the northern districts of Vavuniya and Polonaruwa and in Mannar, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. Two soldiers also died during the weekend fighting. TE were not available for comment and analysts say both sides tend to inflate enemy casualty figures in the absence of independent accounts of the fighting. Buoyed by battlefield victories in the east, where it has captured swathes of rebel-held terrain, the government is now seeking to overrun the separatist Tigers' northern stronghold in the latest chapter of a 25-year civil war. But the Tigers continue to mount suicide attacks and roadside bombings, which are increasingly scattered with some in the capital Colombo. The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is deeply concerned about the growing number of civilian casualties from the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, where the civil war has killed more than 70,000 people since 1983. The ICRC said 180 civilians were reported killed and almost 270 wounded so far this year in bombings on buses, train stations and along streets. The Sri Lanka government has blamed most of the attacks on the rebels. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by David Fogarty)
Supporters of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shout slogans during a protest against petroleum price hike in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad February 16, 2008. India modestly raised ...
