Death toll in Sri Lanka goes up

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Sri Lankan troops killed 24 Tamil Tiger rebels in fighting in the country's north and east on Thursday, the defence ministry said.

Tamil Tigers said that only one rebel died, and seven government commandos were also killed.

More than 3,000 people have died in fighting over the past one year, the government says.

Both sides have been accusing each other of initiating the fighting and violating a 2002 ceasefire agreement.

Claims rejected

The heaviest fighting took place in the eastern Batticaloa region where the government said 19 Tamil rebels and four policemen were killed in two clashes.

Five more rebels were shot dead in a confrontation in the northern Vavuniya district, it said.

The government also accused the rebels of killing two civilians in the east. The Tigers say government troops killed a student and injured five others.

The government denies that seven of its commandos have been killed. But it says seven other security personnel were killed in separate incidents, away from the battlefield, the Associated Press news agency reports.

No independent confirmation of the casualty figures was available.

The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Colombo says that although on paper a ceasefire still exists, it has no existence in reality.

Peace talks remain deadlocked, and more than 200,000 people have been displaced.

The rebels want a homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east. They say Tamils have been discriminated against by the island's Sinhalese majority.