COLOMBO, July 20 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers launched a pre-dawn attack on an army detachment in the northwestern district of Mannar on Friday and three soldiers and nine rebels were killed in the ensuing clash, the military said.

The incident came a day after the government staged a show of military might in the capital with a parade of tanks and troops and a fly-past by fighter jets to celebrate the capture of vast swathes of eastern territory from the rebels.

It also comes after a rash of land and sea clashes, ambushes and air raids that have killed an estimated 4,500 people since last year alone.

"There was a confrontation in the early morning in Mannar. The LTTE fired mortars and artillery. We lost three (soldiers), and four were wounded," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe.

"Ground troops observed nine LTTE cadres killed, and sources say 24 were injured."

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are fighting for an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka, were not immediately available for comment and there was no independent confirmation of what had happened or the death toll.

Analysts say the foes have tended to exaggerate enemy losses and play down their own in a war that has killed nearly 70,000 people since 1983.

And while losing their foothold in the east is a significant military defeat, the rebels have vowed to switch to guerrilla warfare tactics in a bid to cripple the economy with attacks on major military and economic targets and analysts see no clear winner on the horizon.

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