COLOMBO, May 31 (Xinhua) -- A fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers broke out Wednesday morning in the island country's northern Jaffna peninsula amid escalating violence, the Army said in a statement.

    The Army said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels started firing mortars and small arms towards the troops atthe Forward Defense Line (FDL) at Nagarkovil, Jaffna, forcing government troops to retaliate with small arms and mortars.

    "Terrorists firing lasted for about 45 minutes and terrorists in the opposite FDL afterwards retreated in the face of retaliatory fire, directed by the security forces," said the statement, adding that there were no injuries in the Army during the fighting.

    The Army also denied a pro-LTTE 'TamilNet' website report that the actual position of the FDL at Nagarkovil has been distorted tothe advantage of the LTTE.

    The TamilNet report said that "LTTE has advanced significant distance" towards the Army's FDL and that the Army "has been forced to move back from their FDLs."

    The fighting occurred among the country's escalating violence that has claimed over 500 lives since the beginning of December last year.

    The upsurge in violence has threatened the ongoing Norwegian backed ceasefire between the government and the LTTE. Enditem