COLOMBO (AP) -- Sri Lankan security forces clashed with Tamil Tiger separatists and exchanged artillery fire in the north as Norwegian-led monitors began pulling out before a truce runs out, officials said Sunday.

The defence ministry said at least 10 guerrillas were killed and a soldier wounded in fighting since Saturday along a de facto border marking rebel-held territory.
The fresh clashes came as the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said it was winding down its operations before a February 2002 truce brokered by Norway formally ends on January 16.
The Sri Lankan government last week scrapped the truce agreement and gave the mandatory two weeks' notice to pull out, which automatically also ends the truce monitoring mission.
In the capital Colombo, the government on Sunday heightened already tight security arrangements.
Motorists said all vehicles entering or leaving the city of 650,000 people were being checked one by one, causing long queues and traffic snarls.
According to government figures, 48 rebels have died in separate clashes since the start of this month and three soldiers have been killed.
There was no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who are fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east.
Independent verification of casualty figures is not possible as journalists are not allowed into rebel-held areas. Both sides are known to make sharply varying casualty claims.
Tens of thousands of people have died on both sides since the conflict erupted in 1972.