COLOMBO: Sri Lankan troops on Wednesday captured Chundikulam, a major Tamil Tiger base in Vadamarachchi, north of Mullaitivu town in the north eastern part. Men of the 55 Division took this coastal town with a 100 boats, said the Defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella.
Dealing another body blow to the cornered Tamil rebels, the troops captured the last remaining LTTEheld area in Jaffna, establishing total government control over the strategic northern peninsula.
With the capture of Chundikulam, the fall of other centres in Vadamarachchi like Mulliyan, Kudarappu, Chempiyanpattu and Nagarkovil, becomes a matter of time. The fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are boxed into a narrow strip of land here, with the sea on one side and the Jaffna lagoon on the other.
But the land area is dominated by two divisions of the army and the navy is in control of the sea.
A senior LTTE Sea Tiger leader identified only as ‘Thiru’ was killed during the battle to take over the Chundikulam area.
The new success for the advancing Lankan troops came five days after they seized the strategic Elephant Pass, the gateway to the Jaffna peninsula. The rebels, who has already lost their de facto capital Kilinochchi, now only controls their coastal stronghold of Mullaittivu.
Sri Lankan troops today advanced further into Mullaittivu, killing seven Tamil Tigers in ground clashes amidst a spate of air attacks by fighter jets in the region, the military said.