COLOMBO, Nov 4: Tamil militants fired at two vehicles transporting troops in northern Sri Lanka yesterday, killing six of them and losing three of their own cadres, the military said today.A military communique said the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired at a tractor carrying soldiers at Puliyankulam, on the mainland, with small arms. The soldiers retaliated with small arms and machine guns, forcing the rebels to flee.

It said five soldiers and three militants were killed in the encounter. In another incident at Mesalai in Jaffna Peninsula, the rebels fired at an army truck, injuring three soldiers, one of whom died in the hospital later.

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