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COLOMBO : Sri Lankan troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships moved against the remaining Tamil Tiger jungle strongholds after taking their political headquarters, the army said on Monday.
Soldiers were fanning out from positions in the north of the island and heading towards remaining rebel pockets after seizing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) capital of Kilinochchi on Friday, the army said.
"Troops in high morale after the capture of Kilinochchi town continued their forward march further and attacked LTTE terrorists in areas east of Kilinochchi and caused heavy damages to the terrorists," the army said in a statement.
On Sunday, troops also captured the town of Oddusuddan, just south-west of Mullaittivu, the last remaining town in the hands of the LTTE.
For their part, the pro-rebel Tamilnet website said Tigers were putting up stiff resistance to the military advance and said they killed 53 soldiers and wounded another 80.
Tamilnet said the Tigers recovered the bodies of two government soldiers. The claims could not be independently verified.
Military officials denied the rebel claims and said security forces recovered the bodies of 12 Tiger rebels killed since the weekend.
Boosted by the capture of Kilinochchi on Friday, the army on Sunday vowed to capture LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The general who led the assault said his forces were now advancing on Mullaittivu, a coastal district with vast jungle areas and a coastline that the Tigers use to smuggle in weapons.
"We are taking the offensive to the Mullaittivu jungles where Prabhakaran is hiding," Major General Jagath Dias told reporters flown into Kilinochchi for a short and supervised visit on Sunday to show the city was in army hands.
Journalists found a desolate town in which most of the buildings had been badly damaged or reduced to rubble by months of bombardment.
- AFP/ir
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