COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan air force jets bombed a rebel training camp in the north as ground forces waged new battles with Tamil Tiger rebels across the front lines, the military said Wednesday.

The new fighting came amid a major government offensive aimed at defeating the rebel group and ending the Indian Ocean island nation’s 25-year-old civil war.

Air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said fighter jets struck a rebel camp late Tuesday and reported accurately hitting their target.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued along the front lines of the rebels’ de facto state in the north throughout the day Tuesday, the military reported in a statement.

Rebel spokesmen could not be reached for comment because most communication lines with the north have been severed.

However, the rebel-affiliated TamilNet Web site, quoting Tamil Tiger officials, reported that rebel fighters repelled an attack along the front lines in the Jaffna peninsula, killing 36 government soldiers.

Independent accounts of the fighting are difficult to obtain from the battlefield because most journalists are barred from the war zone.

The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent state for the country’s ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered marginalization by ethnic Sinhalese-controlled governments. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

The Associated Press: