COLOMBO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops killed 20 Tamil Tiger rebels in a series of clashes in the north of the island, the military said on Monday.

The fighting, in the far northern Jaffna peninsula, northern district of Vavuniya and northwestern district of Mannar on Sunday, was the latest in a renewed civil war that has killed well over 5,000 people since early last year.

"Confrontations on Sunday killed 20 terrorists in Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya," said a spokesman at the Media Centre for National Security. He said two soldiers were wounded by rebel mortar bombs and that troops destroyed a Tiger bunker in the Jaffna peninsula. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are seeking to carve out an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka, were not immediately available for comment.

There were no independent accounts of how many people were killed or what had happened and analysts say both sides tend to overstate enemy losses and play down their own.

The military has vowed to wipe out the Tigers militarily and to clear the rebels from territory they control in the island's north after driving them from eastern strongholds earlier this year.

Military analysts say there is no clear winner on the horizon, and fear a war in which around 70,000 people have been killed since 1983 could grind on for years. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal, Editing by Simon Gardner and Alex Richardson)

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