Sri Lanka 'takes control of Jaffna'

[Alamuti Lotus]

Source: al Jazeera (English)

Sri Lankan troops claim to have established total control over the northern peninsula of Jaffna after flushing out the last remaining pockets of rebel resistance.

Government soldiers captured Chundikkulam village, a final strip of Tamil Tiger rebel-held land on Wednesday, brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said.

Nanayakkara said that all of Jaffna was now secured after the capture of Chundikkulam, where the rebels had several Sea Tiger bases.

There was no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but their hold on the peninsula began crumbling last week after troops took Elephant Pass, the causeway linking Jaffna with the Sri Lankan mainland.

The Jaffna peninsula has long been seen as the symbolic heart of a 25-year-old separatist insurgency on the island.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/01/2009114142641916394.html

[aquart]

1. 1700 escaping civilians. 41 dead rebels.

My, what precision.