Sri Lanka clashes leave 79 dead

Sri Lanka's army and separatists have traded artillery fire as the military advanced on a strategic Tiger-held enclave in the northeast in an assault that killed at least 79 people, the military says.

Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said 66 separatists and 13 soldiers had been killed and at least 79 soldiers wounded since Sunday, when the army, navy and air force launched a combined operation to retake Tiger-held Sampur.

The separatists said air strikes and shelling on Monday killed 20 civilians in the Sampur area, in northeast Trincomalee district, but did not say how many guerrillas were killed.