Some 44 people including soldiers, Tamil Tiger rebels and civilians have been killed in clashes in Sri Lanka's trouble-torn north and east since Friday, defense officials said Saturday.

Officials said 31 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in the exchange of mortar and artillery fire with the troops in the eastern Batticaloa district and the northern Mannar district.

Troops in the northern Jaffna district's Muhamalai forward defense lines shot dead an LTTE member Saturday morning at 8:00 a. m. local time (0230 GMT) while at 10:40 a.m. (0510 GMT) an LTTE suicide wing member was shot dead by the troops in the Jaffna city.

Military sources said that in addition to the nine soldiers who were killed on Friday, a soldier perished in Jaffna when the suicide cadre's bomb exploded.

Prasad Samarasinghe, the military spokesman, said that a seven- year-old child was killed on Saturday at Chenkaladi in Batticaloa district when the rebels fired mortars from the nearby Thoppigala area.

Samarasinghe stressed that the troops will continue their operation to free civilians from rebel control.

Meanwhile, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) officials said that they had withdrawn from the government entry- exit point at Omanthai on the main A9 highway in the northern Vavuniya district in view of the heavy exchange of fire between the troops and the rebels.

They said they would return only after receipt of security guarantees from both sides.

The recent clashes follow the escalation of violence which began at the end of 2005 endangering the Norwegian backed ceasefire and the process of direct negotiations.