Colombo, Oct 4, SPA -- At least six Tamil rebels and three soldiers were killed in a fresh round of clashes in northern Sri Lanka as the death toll in two weeks of sporadic clashes exceeded 120, military DPA quoted officials as saying Thursday. The fighting broke out Wednesday after rebels fired mortars,artillery and small arms at the security forces in areas west ofOmanthai, 260 kilometres north of the capital. Military officials said at least six rebels were killed and dozens were injured while three soldiers and five soldiers were alsoinjured. Earlier the Foreign Ministry lodged a strong protest to the Iceland government after one of its foreign ministry officialsvisited the rebel-held north and met with rebel political wing leader SP Thamilselvan. A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry in Colombo said that Minister Counsellor of the Foreign Ministry of Iceland BjarniVestmann had met with the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of TamilEelam (LTTE) when the Sri Lankan government had not authorized him tomake any contact with the rebels. Sri Lankan Foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama, during a visit to New York, met with his counterpart from Iceland, Mrs Ingibj|rgS olr un G islad ottir, and lodged a strong protest, the statement said. The statement said that after the protest the government of Iceland tendered an unqualified written apology to the government ofSri Lanka for the unauthorized meeting. Reports from the north said that Vestmann had traveled to the rebel-held area in a vehicle of the Scandinavian cease-fire monitorsand the military had not been informed about the visit. Officials from Iceland are part of the monitoring team, althoughthe cease-fire has gone unimplemented since fighting escalated inDecember 2005. There was no immediate reaction from the Sri Lanka MonitoringMission (SLMM), which has been in the country since February 2002. --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/488072