Sri Lanka says troops seize key rebel village

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Government troops seized a strategic village from separatist Tamil rebels after a two-month battle, severing a supply route and moving a step closer to capturing the militants' de facto capital in northern Sri Lanka, the military said. Government troops have made dramatic progress on the northern fronts in the past months, seizing a series of rebel bases and chunks of land, but the rebels have offered stiff resistance as government troops close in on Kilinochchi. The battle for Vannerikulam village, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of the rebel capital, was especially difficult because the rebels had erected a six-mile (10-kilometer) -long dirt mound from which they had a clear view of the surrounding territory, the military said Monday in a statement. Soldiers cleared the mound, the military said, but would not give more details.