COLOMBO, July 6 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers fired mortar bombs at advancing troops in the east on Friday and killed six soldiers, a military source said, as jets bombed rebel positions.

The fighting in Thoppigala in the eastern district of Batticaloa came after the military said two soldiers and 10 Tiger rebels had been killed in the far north on Thursday.

Sri Lanka has been gripped by renewed civil war following the collapse last year of a ceasefire agreed in 2002.

"There was a mortar attack. One major and five soldiers were killed. Seven others were injured," a military source told Reuters, asking not to be named.

Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe confirmed the mortar attack, but said he had no details of casualties.

Fighter jets bombed suspected Tiger targets in the northwestern district of Mannar and near Thoppigala.

The Tigers said the bombs fell near populated areas but that no one was hurt. There was no independent confirmation.

The military has captured vast swathes of territory from the Tigers in the east in recent months. However the Tigers, who are fighting for an independent state in north and east, still control a large section of the island's far north.

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