Sri Lanka's government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels both suffered casualties in clashes between the two sides in the rebels' shrinking last territory in the north, the military said on Wednesday.

Officials from the Media Center for National Security said several clashes erupted between LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rebels and the troops at Pudukuduirippu area in the Mullaittivu district on Tuesday.

The rebels suffered "heavy damage" while the troops suffered " minor damage" during the incidents, officials said, without giving any details.

Meanwhile, a pro-rebel website said the rebels launched artillery attacks on the troops at Pallai and Muhamalai areas in the Mullaittivu district from Monday midnight to Tuesday.

The pro-rebel website also said at least 129 civilians were killed and nearly 200 others were wounded on Tuesday's battles in the "safety zone" declared by the government.

The Sri Lankan government blamed the rebels holding civilians as human shields while the rebels blamed the troops shelling on civilians in war zone.

The international community is concerned about the situation of civilians trapped in conflict zone where the troops are engaged to fight the rebels and called on both sides to evacuate the civilians.

The Sri Lankan government said its military offensive against the LTTE is at its final stage as the rebel organization has been cornered in a small area of just about 40 sq km in the northern Mullaittivu district.

The troops have recaptured most of the LTTE's 15,000 sq km territories in successive military victories since 2006.

Claiming discrimination at the hands of Sinhalese majority governments, the LTTE began its armed struggle in the 1980s to set up an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east, resulting in the killing of more than 70,000 people.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2009)