Fighting between the Sri Lankan government troops and the Tamil Tigers intensified in the north. The latest update on the matter, according to the military sources, shows that 41 rebels and one soldier were killed in as the government armed forces attacked.

The truce between the two belligerent sides has formally ended on Wednesday and left the way opened for the Sri Lankan military to push for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s northern stronghold.

The fighting escalated in the northern Jaffna Peninsula, northern districts of Vavuniya, Pollonnaruwa and northwestern district of Mannar and this just days after at least 27 people were killed in a bus ambush in the central town of Buttala. The Sri Lankan military holds the Tamil Tigers responsible for the ambush.

"Troops attacked a line of LTTE terrorist bunkers ... south of Adampan Tank in Mannar and completely destroyed six to eight of them. Troops also recovered the bodies of two female terrorists and some weapons," according to a spokesman who spoke at the media centre for national security in conditions of anonymity.

According to the military reports on the fighting casualties, there were 39 Tamil Tiger rebels killed on Saturday and a soldier also died in combat. Other forces of the Sri Lankan military have attacked five rebel boats in northern Jaffna peninsula.

There were no independent accounts of the casualties and the Tamil Tigers weren’t available for comments regarding the latest clashes, sot an objective number of casualties is not available.

The conflict between the Sri Lanka's pro-government forces and the LTTE has started 24 years ago and over this period there were more than 70,000 people killed in the clashes. Two attempts of reaching peace were made, but after the last of them made during the peace-talks held in Geneva a year ago, the fighting has intensified.

The LTTE has an estimated 12,000-member land force and a 4,000-strong naval unit. It still has control over the northern provinces of Sri Lanka.