COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Separate battles between government forces and Tamil separatists across Sri Lanka’s volatile northern region killed 30 rebels and two soldiers, the military said on Sunday. The new fighting came as soldiers closed in on the rebels’ administrative capital of Kilinochchi in a campaign aimed at routing the guerrillas and ending the 25-year-old war that has killed more than 70,000 people. The worst fighting took place on Saturday around Kilinochchi where two separate clashes killed 26 rebels and two soldiers, said military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara. The same fighting wounded 16 rebels and seven soldiers. The army has said its forces are about one mile from the outskirts of Kilinochchi. Other battles in Welioya and Vavuniya killed four rebels on Saturday, said Nanayakkara.