Sri Lankan government soldiers 'enter rebel capital'

Sri Lanka’s military officials say 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 today was still unclear. The military had predicted yesterday 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.