Sri Lanka says rebels evicted from northwestern town

COLOMBO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's military has taken the Silavathura area in the northwestern district of Mannar, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Sunday, a day after the military launched a new offensive to drive out Tamil Tiger rebels.

The offensive comes days after Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said the country had no plans for a major operation on rebel-held territory in the country's north.

The clashes in Mannar are the latest in a spate of land and sea clashes, ambushes and air raids between the armed forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

An estimated 5,000 people have died since last year in renewed fighting after a peace process collapsed. The civil war erupted in 1983 about 70,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands displaced.