Refugees at Trincomalee port after fleeing from Jaffna on Sunday. (AP)

Colombo, Aug. 28 (Reuters): Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers said at least 20 civilians were killed and 26 wounded in air force raids today in the island’s east, as the army launched a new push into Tiger territory.

The military said it had raided identified rebel targets south of the strategic port of Trincomalee 230 km northeast of Colombo. It said 8 soldiers were killed and 28 wounded during fighting to take rebel-held villages.

“They are continually shelling and bombing populated areas in our control. They have advanced and reached our lines,” Tiger military spokesman Rafiah Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone from the rebel headquarters in the town of Kilinochchi. “There are 20 civilians dead and 26 wounded.”

There was no independent confirmation of the death toll.

Hundreds have been killed in violence this month, the worst fighting since a 2002 truce, but so far the front lines have barely moved. But the government says it wants the LTTE out of the Sampur area overlooking Trincomalee harbour.

“We are retaliating. Obviously they are trying to come into Sampur. They are trying to initiate a full-scale war. We have always been ready to defend our land and our people,” Ilanthiraiyan said.

More than 65,000 people have died in two decades of civil war, well over 1,000 in the last year.

The Tigers have used the Sampur area — which includes the southern edge of Trincomalee harbour entrance — to shell the naval base and launch attacks on military supply convoys to Jaffna.