Sri Lankan troops marched into the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital of Kilinochchi and the town is about to fall into government hands, an official said on Friday (2^nd January), in what would be a major blow for the rebels. The Sri Lankan military has had a series of battlefield victories against the Tigers and vowed to defeat the group this year to end their more than 25-year separatist campaign.

 

Sources from President Mahinda Rajapaksa's office told that, troops had entered Kilinochchi from two locations and that fighting with rebels was going on. Military sources said an announcement was expected soon from Rajapaksa.

 

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had no immediate comment. Defence analysts said the fall of Kilinochchi would be a bitter blow for the LTTE and they will have their only territory in Mullaitivu.

 

The LTTE started fighting the government in 1983. It says it is battling for the rights of minority Tamils in the face of discrimination by successive governments led by the Sinhalese majority since Sri Lanka won independence from Britain in 1948.

 

Government troops on Thursday captured Iranamadu junction, south of the LTTE's self-proclaimed capital of Kilinochchi and Paranthan town to the north. The military said the capture of the two key rebel-held areas had paved the way for military to move into Kilinochchi for the first time in more than a decade.