Colombo  - The Sri Lanka Air Force bombed a Tamil rebel logistic base in northern Sri Lanka for a third-straight day after least 21 rebels were killed in clashes elsewhere, military officials said Friday.

Fighter jets on Friday pounded the logistic base, which also housed a vehicle parts and hardware supplies store, located at Vishvamadu, Mullaitivu, 320 kilometres north-east of Colombo.

The base was destroyed, said Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara, an air force spokesman.

Colombo - The army has been deployed in two Sri Lankan provinces where elections are scheduled Saturday after a spate of pre-poll violence, including shootings and the burnings of vehicles and buildings.

The army has been sent to North-Central province, 180 kilometres north-east of Colombo, and Sabaragamuwa province, 100 kilometres south-east of the capital, after a request from the commissioner of elections, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said Thursday.

Colombo - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa called on voters to endorse his ongoing military campaign against Tamil rebels ahead of a crucial provincial poll on Saturday.

Rajapaksa's comments came hours before campaigning for Saturday's election in two of Sri Lanka's nine provinces was due to end Wednesday night in keeping with local election laws.

Colombo – Air force fighter jets on Thursday bombed Tamil rebel targets in northern Sri Lanka as troops consolidated positions they captured overnight, killing at least seven guerillas, a military spokesman said.

The military said the air force bombed what they identified as resistance points located at Thunukkai in Mullaitivu, 380 kilometres north of Colombo.

The air raids were carried out in support of ground troops engaged in fighting to take control of a main land route.

The military said the rebel targets were hit accurately, but no details of the damage were reported.

On Wednesday, troops captured the Kalvilan area, 370 kilometres north of the capital, and were consolidating positions in the recaptured areas.

Colombo - A chief administrative officer in north-eastern Sri Lanka was injured along with 16 others during a midnight shell attack on their residences, officials said Friday.

Tamil rebels blamed the military for the shell attacks in Mullaitivu, 390 kilometres north-east of the capital Colombo, but the army denied the claim.

District chief Emelda Sukumar, the chief medical officer's wife and more than a dozen others were injured in the attack near the city hospital, officials in the area said.