Over 29 Tamil Tigers have been killed and 36 injured in separate clashes with the security forces in Sri Lanka's [Images] embattled north in the last two days.

"Intelligence reports revealed that around 20 LTTE cadres have been killed in a fierce confrontation with troops near the Kilali Forward Defence Line in Jaffna this morning," a defence spokesman said. An LTTE attempt to breach the Kilali Forward Defence Line was foiled by the troops, he said, adding that two enemy bunkers were destroyed by the security forces in retaliatory strikes.

In a subsequent search operation, troops recovered weapons abandoned by the LTTE cadres, the defence spokesman added.

In another clash, nine Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and 36 wounded in the northwestern district of Mannar on Monday, the army official said.

"LTTE's attempt to attack a security cordon at the Yodawewa area in Mannar near the Palk Straits was repelled successfully by the F\forces," the spokesman said, adding four soldiers were also injured in the incident. Through interceptions of LTTE radio transmission, the security forces had established that a vehicle belonging to the rebels was also completely destroyed in the clash.

However, the LTTE claimed that only ten of its cadres were killed in the two incidents.

In a separate incident early on Tuesday, two civilians were killed in a roadside bomb attack in northern Jaffna, said the Defence Ministry. The blast is suspected to be the handiwork of LTTE terrorists.

The LTTE, in a statement last night, demanded that the "aspirations" of the Tamil people must be met and the Sri Lankan government must find a solution to the two-decade old ethnic problem, based on the right to "self-determination of the Tamil people."

As many as 5,000 people have been killed in clashes between the military and LTTE rebels since early 2006.