Moving a resolution to extend Sri Lanka's emergency, Ratwatte said 208 soldiers including 10 officers were killed and 65 were missing in fighting since May 28. More than 1,500 soldiers including 71 officers were wounded in the battle, he said. The Sri Lankan military is engaged in an operation code-named Jaya Sekuru to secure a stretch of highway in LTTE-controlled territory in the north. The offensive is now a over a year old with the casualty toll for the army mounting to over 1,600 killed, according to government estimates, after last week's battle. More details of the battle cannot be published due to censorship regulations, nor the LTTE's version of it faxed every day to journalists here from its London headquarters.

Of those injured in thefighting, Ratwatte told Parliament that only 206 soldiers and six officers were seriously wounded and that several others had returned to the front to resume their duties. Several of the missing had also returned, he said.

Replying to a barrage of questions from the opposition, Ratwatte justified censorship regulations imposed on local and foreign media last week as a measure to prevent the ``enemy'' from getting information about military strategy. It was in response to a demand from soldiers on the front after one planned attack on the LTTE had to be given up because it appeared in a newspaper the previous day.

Describing the restrictions on the media as a temporary measure, Ratwatte said censorship would also prevent newspapers from publishing military casualty figures as it created ``unnecessary fears'' amongst families and relations of soldiers.

Quoting LTTE radio transmissions, the minister said they too had suffered heavily, with 225 cadres killed in the fighting and 600 injured. However, he saidthese numbers were not confirmed.

Ratwatte said Operation Jaya Sekuru was on course and being ``successfully implemented''. Over 13,000 deserters had returned during the amnesty granted by the government last month and had been mobilised at the front, he told Parliament.

Press censorship in Sri Lanka draws ire

VIENNA: An international press watchdog has condemned the government of Sri Lanka for imposing a ban on reporting the country's dragging ethnic war. The Vienna-based International Press Institute said the ban was a ``flagrant breach'' of pledges by the government of President Kumaratunga on press freedom.``IPI is concerned that the imposition of the censorship on military news will make only the official, state version of the war available to Sri Lankans,'' it said in an open letter to the Sri Lankan head of state.