At least 52 LTTE militants were killed in fierce battles with the Sri Lankan army near the Jaffna peninsula officials said on Friday.

The Army also captured a Tamil Tigers' airstrip in nearby Kilinochchi.

"Smashing the conventional notion that the Tigers' Forward Defence Lines in Muhamale and Kilaly cannot be challenged, troops in Jaffna on Thursday overran the first LTTE Forward Defence Line in the strategic bottleneck and the lagoon to the north and south of the Jaffna-Kandy Highway killing over fifty militants," the army said.

This has created a breach in the Tigers' Jaffna defence line and the Govt. forces have now mounted a two-pronged fresh offencive on the Tiger headquarters of Kilinochchi from the south and the north.

Elaborating the week-long pitched battle a Defence Ministry spokesman said, "The fire fighting resulted in the loss of over 50 LTTE militants besides injuries to several others."

But the causalities caused to Sri Lankan Army are very low he added.