LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran

Colombo, Aug. 2 (Reuters): Sri Lanka’s military has entered the rebels’ de-facto capital in the north of the island, killing 20 Tamil Tiger rebels after fierce fighting, the defence ministry said today.

The rebel capital in the island’s northern district of Kilinochchi is where the elusive rebel leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran is believed to be hiding.

“Troops crossed the district borders between Mannar and Kilinochchi districts at an undisclosed location,” the defence ministry said in its website www.defence.lk. Two soldiers were killed in the operation.

The military also captured one of the main rebel strongholds, Vellankulam town, killing 30 rebels in northern Mannar district, the ministry said.

However, it was not clear whether the military had captured the whole northern Mannar district, where the military has advanced significantly in the recent months.

Sri Lanka’s government is pursuing a strategy to gradually retake the Tiger’s northern stronghold and win the 25-year civil war amidst an almost-daily barrage of land, sea and air attacks in northern rebel-held territories.

The civil war has killed more than 70,000 people since it started. The LTTE, which the US classifies as a terrorist group, is fighting to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils in north and east Sri Lanka since 1983.

Analysts say the military has an advantage in the latest phase of the war given its superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island’s east.

The rebels, who are fighting for an independent state in the north and east of the island for ethnic minority Tamils, said they killed 30 Sri Lanka soldiers, thwarting an offensive in its stronghold of Mallavi in northern district of Mullaiteevu.

“At least 30 SLA soldiers were killed and more than 60 troopers sustained injuries in an intense fighting. Three dead bodies of SLA soldiers were also recovered by the Tigers,” the group said.