In pictures: Battle for Kilinochchi

Sri Lankan forces have been locked in a months-long campaign to take Kilinochchi, the de facto capital of the Tamil Tiger separatists in the north of the country near Jaffna.

Now Sri Lanka's military say their soldiers have entered the rebel capital. The capture of Kilinochchi would deal a severe blow to the Tigers, who have held it for a decade.

It is where the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) have established their administrative headquarters and assembled the trappings of the separate state they want for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority.

The military offensive against the rebels was ratcheted up after a six-year-old ceasefire brokered by Norway was abandoned at the beginning of 2008.

Both sides have recently claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on each other in the north of the island, but there are no independent reports.

Thousands are estimated to have been killed and displaced since fighting escalated after 2005.

But with the latest capture of the rebels' de facto capital and the surrounding areas, the Sri Lankan army appears to have gained the upper hand.

Back

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Next