Supersonic jets bombed rebel-held territory after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) set off a road side bomb and ambushed a military vehicle, killing five soldiers and wounding another, the military said.

"We have hit three LTTE targets today," a spokesman for the Sri Lankan airforce said. He said there were no details on casualties.

The military also reported eight civilians were killed in shelling in the east of the island, where the two sides have been locked in long-range attacks.

The defence ministry said the civilians were killed as a result of firing by Tamil Tiger rebels into populated areas of Batticaloa district. There was no immediate comment from the Tigers.

There has been heavy fighting between the two sides in the coastal Batticaloa region, where the military captured a Tiger base on Wednesday.

The Tiger rebels are leading a drawn out campaign for independence. More than 4,000 people have been killed in the latest wave of fighting since December 2005 despite a truce arranged by peace broker Norway in 2002.

Meanwhile, a Sri Lanka court blocked access for an internationally supervised team probing grave human rights abuses as the island faced mounting criticism for extra-judicial killings, police said yesterday.

Colombo's chief magistrate refused permission on Thursday for the Special Presidential Commission investigating high-profile assassinations and massacres to have access to court records, a police official said.

"We made an application to court on behalf of the presidential commission, but the chief magistrate ordered that the records should not be made available to them or anyone else," a police official said.