Sri Lankan military claimed Tuesday that a village under Tamil
Tiger control was captured in the morning hours while killing 22
rebels.
Defense officials said that some 16 bunkers belonging to the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were destroyed in the
attack in the Mannar district.
The military is said to be moving forward in the Mannar sector
with heavy rebel resistance.
The military says the rebels will be evicted from the areas of
their control in the north before the end of 2008. Clashes have
intensified with ground battles in the north since the government
announced its unilateral abrogation of the February 2002 ceasefire
on January 16.
More than 70,000 have been killed in the island's long drawn out
separatist armed conflict since the mid 1980s.
The LTTE rebels fight the government troops to set up a separate
homeland for the minority Tamil community in the island's embattled
north and east provinces.
(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2008)
