COLOMBO, Aug 31, 2007 (AFP) - Three people have been killed in violence in Sri Lanka as government troops traded long-range artillery fire with Tamil Tiger rebels in the northwest, the defence ministry said Friday.

Security forces shot dead three suspected Tamil Tiger rebels as they tried to breach army defence lines in the northern district of Jaffna on Thursday, the military said.

In the northwestern district of Mannar, government troops launched an artillery attack on areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) late Thursday, the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website said.

It gave no details of casualties, but military sources said security forces were retaliating to a barrage of long-range fire from the guerrillas.

There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE, which has been locked in combat with the government since 1972 for a separate state for minority Tamils. The 35-year-old ethnic conflict has claimed over 60,000 lives.

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