COLOMBO, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - Some 43 guerrillas and four soldiers died in fierce fighting as Sri Lankan troops beat back a major Tamil rebel attack in the island's north, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

The army struck Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) defence lines in Jaffna in a pre-dawn attack Wednesday, killing five rebels and wounding 25, the ministry said, adding three of its soldiers were injured.

The latest deaths came after the LTTE mounted a counter-offensive in Vavuniya district late Tuesday, the ministry said, adding troops returned fire with artillery and rockets.

Some 38 rebels were slain and another 94 injured in Tuesday's clashes in the northern region, while four soldiers were killed and 13 wounded, the ministry said.

There was no immediate comment from the Tigers.

The latest deaths raised the number of rebels who have died in combat since January to 5,600, while 510 soldiers have been killed over the same period, according to a tally of defence ministry figures.

Independent verification of government figures is not possible since Colombo bars reporters from travelling to combat zones.

Tens of thousands have died since the LTTE launched an armed struggle in 1972 aimed at carving out a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east.

The government pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels in January, and troops have been escalating their efforts to dismantle the de facto separate state the rebels maintain in the north.

Last month, army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said his forces had wiped out two-thirds of the Tigers' military capability and that the conflict was 'nearing the turning point.'