Sri Lankan troops have captured a strategically important Tamil Tiger camp on the islands western coast, the military said today, as government forces continue their push against the rebels' northern stronghold.
The capture of the rebel base in the northwestern district of Mannar came three days after the military said it had struck a "fatal blow" against the Tigers by capturing the northwestern town of Vidattaltivu, the main base of the rebels' sea wing.
"The army, with troops from 58 Division and Army Commandos captured the largest LTTE terrorist base in the Illupaikadavai area, about 10 km (6 miles) north of Vidattaltivu," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"Troops have now advanced ahead of Illupaikadavai and are now in the process of consolidating their positions."
Brig Nanayakkara also said 48-hour fighting in the area had killed 15 Tamil Tiger rebels for the loss of one soldier.
Fighting in the 25-year civil war is now concentrated in the north after the Sri Lankan army, which has vowed to finish off the Tigers this year, drove the rebels out of their eastern enclave in 2007. An estimated 70,000 people have died since the civil war began in 1983.
The Tigers are fighting for an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka for ethnic Tamils, a minority in the predominantly Sinhalese country.