(Adds rebel statement)

COLOMBO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's air force bombed rebel positions in the far north on Wednesday, targeting the Tamil Tiger's reclusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, the military said.

The rebels accused the Colombo government of spreading false propaganda about the raid and said that the armed forces had carried out two attacks on civilian settlements.

The air raids on rebel-held Kilinochchi were the latest engagement in an intensification of the 25-year civil war following the official scrapping of a truce with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam last week.

"We have taken a target at 11:15 a.m., and according to intelligence sources it was a secret hideout called X-ray base in the area of Iranamadu, where we suspect the LTTE leader was hiding," said air force spokesman Wing Commander Andrew Wijesuriya. Pilots said the raid was successful, he said.

"I would not like to speculate whether he was killed. What we can say is that the target was accurately taken," Wijesuriya said.

There were no independent accounts of what the air force bombed or details of any casualties.

Pro-rebel Web site www.tamilnet.com quoted Tamil Tiger rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan as saying the raids had not targeted the location of the rebel leader.

"Colombo was spreading false propaganda ... the attack targeted civilian settlements at Vaddakkachchi twice between 11:10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. and in the evening between 5:15 and 6 p.m."

The military also said they had killed at least 21 rebels in Mannar on Tuesday along a shared "border" that separates government territory from the rebels' de facto state in the north.

Www.tamilnet.com said the rebels had killed 12 soldiers on Tuesday. The military said one soldier was killed in the fighting. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal)

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