Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday hailed his troops' capturing of the Tamil Tiger headquarters in the island's north as "an unparalleled victory".
The government troops wrested from rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) control the town of Kilinochchi, their former administrative headquarters, on Friday.
"This was an unparalleled victory", Rajapakse told a gathering in his secretariat in a hurriedly arranged victory ceremony.
"This was a campaign to defeat terrorism for which all communities have to be proud of", Rajapakse said. He said the troops' victory should not be regarded as a victory for one community over another.
"Kilinochchi was the capital of a state dreamt of by a terrorist organization. It will no longer be available to them", the Sri Lankan president stressed.
The government troops entered the town of Kilinochchi from three directions Friday morning and took control of all major locations.
Kilinochchi has been under LTTE control since 1998 and served as its administrative capital of its defacto separate state in the island's north.
The troops came up with LTTE resistance in their bid to capture the district since late August last year.
Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka, the Army Commander told the gathering that his troops had worked 24 hours of the day from March 2007 in order to achieve the victories over the LTTE.
The LTTE which fought a bitter campaign since the mid 1980s to set up a separate homeland for the minority Tamils lost huge territory to the advancing government troops since mid 2007.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article