COLOMBO, Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) - Sri Lankan commandos have taken at least eight bases used by Tamil Tiger guerrillas to launch attacks in eastern Sri Lanka following an operation lasting several days, military officials said Friday.

The elite Special Task Force commandos took the eighth base in the district of Ampara early Friday after a three-day operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a local official said by telephone.

Four LTTE members were killed in one clash on Thursday, while in other confrontations the guerrillas withdrew after token resistance, officials said. There was no immediate reaction from the guerrillas.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist conflict in the past 35 years and diplomatic attempts to end the conflict politically have ended in failure.

Government troops and Tamil Tiger guerrillas have been trading attacks across the island's embattled northern and eastern regions, with more than 3,800 people killed in the past year despite a truce in place since February 2002.

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