COLOMBO, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Fresh fighting in Sri Lanka's far north killed 34 Tamil Tiger rebels and nine solders, the military said on Monday, as government forces continued their push against the rebels' northern stronghold.

The fighting came days after the military said it had entered the rebels' de facto capital in the north, amid a daily barrage of land, sea and air attacks on northern rebel-held territories.

"From the Sunday fighting troops had killed 34 LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) terrorists and injured 33 others," said a spokesman at the Media Centre for National Security, who asked not to be named in line with its policy.

"Nine soldiers had also died and 15 (were) injured from the fighting."

The Tigers, fighting for an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka for ethnic Tamils, a minority in the predominantly Sinhalese country, were not immediately available for comment. The fighting came as regional leaders signed a cooperation pact in Colombo on Sunday aimed at combatting terrorism, concluding the 15th summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Corporation (SAARC).

SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Some 19,000 extra police and soldiers were deployed in the capital for the meeting.

The Tamil Tiger rebels, classified as a terrorist group by some countries, had declared a 10-day unilateral truce starting from July 26 as a goodwill gesture for the summit but the government dismissed it, saying no official notification was received and it was sceptical about the declaration.

Sri Lanka's government is pursuing a strategy aimed at gradually retaking the Tiger's northern stronghold and winning the 25-year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people.

Analysts say the military has an advantage in the latest phase of the war given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain already captured in the island's east. But they still see no clear winner on the horizon. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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