Colombo, March 21. (PTI): Heavy fighting erupted in Sri Lanka today after the LTTE launched simultaneous attacks against five army camps in the island's east, leaving 18 people dead on both sides.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired mortars at the Sittandy army camp as well as four other locations in Batticaloa district this morning, killing four soldiers and wounding about 30, a military official said.

Troops recovered the bodies of nine Tigers, inclduing that of a woman combatant this morning while five more Tigers were killed in a similar confrontation at Muhamalai in the Jaffna peninsula early this morning.

The Defence Ministry said, about 300 LTTE men were involved in the attack on the district. The military called in Israeli-built Kfir jets to bomb Tiger positions, the airforce said.

There was no immediate word from the Tigers about the clash, but the guerrillas in a statement said eight civilians had gone missing in Batticaloa district.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in a new wave of fighting since December 2005 between Government troops and the LTTE.