Sri Lankan government forces are claiming to have captured the biggest sea base of the rebel Tamil Tigers in the country's northeast.
Military officials on Thursday said that the Tigers were now left with just 20km coastline in the northeastern district of Mullaittivu, following the fall of the Chalai base.
"The army has just moved into the Chalai base," a military official said. "Troops are now consolidating their hold in the coastal area."
The claims of the capture came as the Sri Lankan government insisted that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was close to being vanquished.
In an address to the parliament on Thursday, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, the Sri Lankan prime minister, said: "Our forces have now surrounded the last stronghold of the terrorists. Our troops are challenging the Tigers waiting in front of their den.
Wickremanayake said that the government will only accept an unconditional surrender by the Tamil Tigers, who he said were "facing imminent defeat after a fruitless 25-year war for a separate Tamil homeland".
“The last moment of Tigers will be painful as well as decisive,” he said.
Source: AP