Sri Lankan troops killed 32 Tamil Tiger separatists in intense fighting in what the government says are the final battles of Asia's longest-running civil war, the military said on Friday.
The battles came as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights warned both sides may have committed war crimes and urged a suspension of fighting to let tens of thousands of civilians escape.
Sri Lanka's military surrounded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the island nation's northeastern coast and is fighting to deal a death blow to a civil war that has raged off and on since 1983.
"Fighting continued in Puthukudyiruppu. Troops killed 32 LTTE terrorists from yesterday's fighting and recovered 15 dead bodies," military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
Combat operations now are concentrated on the last town the separatist group holds and commanders say nearly all of the Tamil Tigers' top guerrillas including leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran are in that area, with some personally commanding the battles.
Troops remained inside the town and have just a few miles to go before they reach a lagoon on its eastern edge, across from which is about a 8-mile coastal strip set up as a no-fire zone.
Tens of thousands of civilians are inside the area.
Sides trade blame
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, an ethnic Tamil raised in South Africa, in a statement said the government had shelled designated no-fire zones and that the group's treatment of people should be investigated for war crimes.
Sri Lankan government officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but the government has repeatedly rejected reports it has fired on civilians.
It says it has stopped returning fire on rebel guns located in civilian areas and troops are taking more casualties as a result.
The Tigers could not be reached for comment but the pro-rebel web site www.TamilNet.com again accused the military of shelling and killing civilians, saying at least 35 civilians were killed.
The military denied the report.
The government says 70,000 people are inside the no-fire zone, while the Red Cross says there are 150,000. The military says about 38,900 people have fled rebel areas this year.
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