Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said Saturday that government troops have liberated the northern Pooneryn area from Tamil Tiger rebels and a land route tothe northern Jaffna peninsula will be opened for the first time since 1993.
Addressing the nation through the state media, Rajapakse said with the falling of Pooneryn Saturday morning, the full stretch of the A-32 road (Mannar-Pooneryn) has been under control of government troops.
"We congratulate the war heroes and express our sincere gratitude to the citizens of Sri Lanka who have given their unstinted support to our struggle," said Rajapakse.
Rajapakse also called on Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lay down armsand begin to negotiate with the government.
"At this moment, I very clearly call Prabhakaran of (the) LTTE to immediately lay down your arms and come to the negotiation table. It is the greatest service that you can do to the people in the Wanni," said the president.
Pooneryn on the western coastal belt of the Northern Province fell into the rebels' hands in 1993 and it was used by the rebels as their main long range artillery gun position in the battle against the troops.
The A-32 road is not actually a land link to Jaffna. In between Poonery and the Jaffna peninsula, there is a couple of kilometers of ferry route in the Jaffna lagoon.
The main A9 road linking the central city of Kandy and the Jaffna peninsula is still partly controlled by the rebels.
Before the recapture of the Pooneryn, the government has to use sea route to provide supplies to the civilians in Jaffna as well as about 40,000 troops stationed there.
The troops began its military offensive against the LTTE in the north in mid-2007 after repulsing the organization from the Eastern Province.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of Sinhalese-dominated governments, the LTTE has been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east for more than two decades, resulting in the killing of more than 70,000 people.
Source: Xinhua
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