Sri Lankan soldiers enter rebel stronghold after a decade: military

Sri Lanka's military officials say that their soldiers have entered the Tamil Tiger rebels' de facto capital in the north for the first time in a decade.

Senior military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say troops have entered the town of Kilinochchi from two sides.

The level of fighting inside the town Friday was still unclear. The military had predicted on Thursday that they would control the town within two days.

The fall of Kilinochchi would be devastating to the separatist group, which has been forced out of much of its territory in the north of the Indian Ocean island nation amid a renewed government offensive in recent months.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised to crush the rebel group and end the nation's 25-year-old civil war this year.

 Senior officials have said repeatedly over the past two months that Kilinochchi's fall was imminent, but troops became bogged down by heavy rains and fierce rebel resistance.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said Thursday that the capture of the strategic Paranthan junction earlier in the day — after about six weeks of fighting — left troops within two kilometres of Kilinochchi on both the north and the south.

Tigers will fight on as guerrillas, leader says

The rebels could not immediately be reached for comment. But Tamil Tiger political leader Balisingham Nadesan told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the group began as guerrillas and would be able to keep fighting even if it lost much of the northern lands it controlled for more than a decade.

"We are used to all types of wars," he said.

The rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for the minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalization by successive governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.

The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people.