At least eight Tamil Tiger guerrillas were on Tuesday killed when a breakaway faction of the rebels attacked their base in Sri Lanka's restive northeastern region of Trincomalee, military officials said.
Gunmen from the breakaway Karuna faction attacked the base of the mainstream Tamil Tigers in Thoppur general area, the sources said.
There was no confirmation of the attacks, but the military said their information was based on intercepts of rebel radio communications.
The latest attack came two days after the Tigers launched a commando style attack on a Karuna camp and killed at least 10 men. The Karuna faction said they killed eight Tiger cadres in Sunday's attack.
Later the main Tigers said the army went to the rescue of the Karuna faction and lost five soldiers, a charge denied by the military.