COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Sri Lankan soldiers and Tamil Tiger terrorists fought a series of battles in the North killing 26 Tigers and one soldier, the military said Saturday.

Fighting has escalated in recent weeks with government forces sweeping deep into rebel-held territory, capturing insurgent bases and threatening to overrun the Tamil Tigers’ administrative capital at Kilinochchi.

The latest infantry clashes took place Friday along the front lines in Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Welioya and Jaffna districts, a military statement said.

Soldiers killed 13 guerrillas in three separate clashes in Vavuniya, while in Kilinochchi nine rebels were killed, it said.

Troops destroyed a rebel bunker in Welioya after a clash that killed three insurgents and wounded 22 more, the military said.

A rebel mortar attack and booby trap explosions in Welioya killed one soldier and wounded five more.

Another rebel was killed in the northern Jaffna peninsula, the statement said.